Arctic shipping critical issue for new ministers
Today, Nov. 1, 2021, is the first full day of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a strong delegation of Inuit leaders there, supported by Inuit elders and youth. Our decades old message about climate change is no longer contested. Indeed, the most recent IPCC Report highlighted that climate change is […]
Hill residential school memorial removed
The shoes and stuffed animals put in front of Centre Block to honour the lives of lost residential school children, placed in the summer amid a flurry of discoveries of unmarked graves, have been taken down as of Oct. 22, ahead of an encroaching winter that looks set to drizzle the city in a melancholic […]
First two-spirit MP aims to be architect of change, speak up for Indigenous, LGBTQ2+ voices
Newly elected New Democrat Blake Desjarlais didn’t always want to be a politician. The 27 year old, who recently won the riding of Edmonton Griesbach, Alta., originally had his sights set on becoming an architect, following in the footsteps of Indigenous trailblazer Douglas Cardinal. “I wanted to show people in North America that Indigenous people […]
Indigenous, historically marginalized groups felt the brunt of election disenfranchisement, say advocates
Although voter turnout overall wasn’t as bad as some predicted, reduced polling stations in densely populated urban areas and remote Indigenous communities, along with the lack of voting opportunities on post-secondary campuses were substantial hits to the franchise of some marginalized groups in last month’s federal election. Elections Canada says it’s looking into at least […]
The 50 MPs in ridings where 142 former residential schools are located
Fifty of Parliament’s 338 MPs have former residential schools in their riding boundaries, with the 142 sites identified in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s landmark report spread across the three territories and seven provinces. Since May, the remains of more than 1,000 Indigenous children have been found at the sites of the former government-funded residential […]
Hard truths and the duty to remember, to do better on the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
On this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, we come together. We join our voices to say that we can’t stop thinking about the children who never returned home after leaving for residential schools, children who died from the abuse they suffered, from the grief of being torn away from everything that anchored their lives, […]
What does it take to do real reconciliation?
OTTAWA—Six years after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and here we are—struggling to get consensus in Canada to even recognize the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Some might say it will take time, but unfortunately that defence has been used for decades now. The recipe is vapid lines […]
Hope remains for Liberal action on Indigenous promises, but spotty record leaves many advocates skeptical
After an election that saw little talk of Indigenous issues, advocates decry a “scaling down of ambition” over time by the Trudeau Liberals and argue the need for continued public pressure to effect real change—but hope remains. For Legacy of Hope Foundation president Adam North Peigan, there’s mainly fragile faith. “We do have a lot […]
Canada did not succeed: we are still here and we are powerful
Canada is just emerging from a federal election and, although the makeup of Parliament did not shift much, the outcome will determine the future of Reconciliation. The election followed a summer where the discoveries of more than 1,300 unmarked graves at former residential schools across the country inspired calls for action. Each of the five […]
‘Important’ and ‘symbolic’ to speak Indigenous language in same Chamber that repressed their use, says Battiste
Speaking Indigenous languages in the same House of Commons Chamber that had historically tried to quash them can be a source of inspiration and can help revitalization efforts, says Liberal Jaime Battiste. Revitalization experts say having the languages spoken in Parliament can be effective and show the applicability of learning Indigenous languages. “There’s times in […]
