Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth.
If Canada does not respect Indigenous history, we will lose the essential foundation of what makes us strong as a country. If Canada does not accept what it did to Indigenous children and to Indigenous communities, then this nation might just lose its soul because Indigenous Peoples are actually what binds us together in this federalism. In our rush to find shared sense of purpose, in our resolve to protect our country, we actually have to protect Indigenous Peoples, too.
One month remains before the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The Anglican Church can find its way through its self-made valley and release every single record for every single child lost. This is the only way to be an ally now.
It doesn’t help the soul to have governments pushing big corporate gains over Canadians’ sense of safety. It doesn’t help the spirit to have governments backstop oil and gas instead of clean energy. This is an example of the two-to-four-year political cycle pushing short-term gain to literally our peril.
A dozen First Nations leaders held a press conference to detail the lack of involvement of First Nations in managing the crisis, and they called out Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s communications as propaganda attempting to spin the wildfire response as entirely positive. Just who is running this disaster, anyhow?
Indigenous Peoples deserve to be healthy. Do remember we’re in this era of reconciliation, when Canada says it will make reparations. NIHB is currently not a reparation. Instead, the program requires atonement for its current inequity.
We don’t want data centres to destroy our water and drain our power systems. We don’t want AI to run rampant through this country. We’ve seen this movie. We want the government to regulate it so Indigenous peoples don’t get left behind.
Provincial and federal politicians are held to a higher standard of ethics, leadership and inclusion. Politicians are not supposed to denigrate one group in order to pacify another. That type of behaviour is well down the road to rogue-state territory.
Mary Simon changed the world for Indigenous youth who for the first time saw ‘one of us’ take on such a role and succeed. No more airtime on languages. Instead, let’s highlight how this Governor General raised the profile of Indigenous success and contribution, and about mental health. And even though she will be leaving the job, reconciliation continues.
If a similar proportion of women in the city of Ottawa were missing or murdered over the past 20 years—let’s say 700—it would be a crisis. That’s close to the proportion compared to the overall Indigenous population. But Indigenous women?
Liberal Party members deserved a party. Convention speeches are always a bit of hyperbole. But don’t allow your celebration and a majority government get in the way of reconciliation. If you are truly allies for Indigenous Peoples, one of your jobs is to ensure the party demands that accurate history is reflected.
First Nations Elders and chiefs say the Earth is speaking to us, and it seems we have not heard the message. Climate change is already an existential threat to infrastructure, communities, and our sense of safety. Perhaps the federal government might reflect this in its budgets.
Disregard it if the federal government says, ‘No.’ It has never had a legal right over us to say who belongs and who doesn’t.
This is the Catholic Church’s version of the Epstein files. These records must not be destroyed. We must not allow a coverup of such magnitude. The parallels in these attempts to hide history and crimes against children are eery.
Highways 11 and 17 are dangerously outdated and this is a major project begging for support. The infrastructure of the east-west corridor is critical infrastructure. Imagine the support: First Nations, local communities in northern Ontario, ambulance drivers and trucking firms.
The risk of concurrent racism faced by Indigenous peoples in hospitals today is criminal. Regulatory colleges need to fix it immediately.
When former prime minister Jean Chrétien says we have to stop looking back at the problems in Canada instead of looking forward at the potential, his statement smacks of denial instead of a sense of history.
