A short video that highlights one of the difficulties of a great Canadian. This book covers a huge amount of history and the chosen paragraph about residential schools is a small part of it. His belief in the rights of our peoples and this portion of the book are what has galvanized me to learn more.
Please watch my video and like it if you do and subscribe if you care.
As I was creating this we are undergoing a federal election where Pierre’s son Justin was seeking another term. His dad put aboriginal rights into the 1882 Constitutions and we as a people must deal with our failures to those peoples. Most recently these have been highlighted by the uncovering of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools. If Justin Trudeau wins I will do everything I can to make up for my own and my countries failures by pressuring him and his party to engage fully and bring the church to heel on this issue. Only full disclosure will pave the way to true reconciliation and this means the church must be forced under law to disclose all the documents they have regarding residential schools. ALL! This is a Canadian responsibility.
There has been some headway, for instance, where I live in Coquitlam the city has incorporated this statement in their presentations.
“We acknowledge with gratitude and respect that the name Coquitlam was derived from the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (kwee-kwuh-tlum) meaning “Red Fish Up the River”. The City is honoured to be located on the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) traditional and ancestral lands, including those parts that were historically shared with the sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), and other Coast Salish Peoples.”
The pope has visited Canada and apologized and British Columbia has reached agreements with some bands and others are in advances stages.
I have personally visited the Kwikwetlem and Katzie nations band offices, interviewed my Member of Parliament and Coquitlam City Council to get a greater understanding of the issues. I want to ensure that my concern that our Native Peoples be heard and that we do all we can to meet just and meaningful agreement with them.
There is a long way to go and with the world dealing with a pandemic that has killed millions, war in the Ukraine , Africa being torn apart by famine and armed insurrections and families dealing with a huge increase in the cost of living there are challenges for our bandwidth. That said, this is our problem and opening our ears and heart will help find the solution.
Canadians can do better with both our National and International responsibilities and we just have to collectively pressure our political and business leaders by making them aware of our concerns. Actions speak louder than words, votes and dollars count, so stand up and be heard!
Winding-Roads 