China repeatedly lectured Canada on human rights this week following a Saskatchewan band’s claim to have discovered hundreds of unmarked graves near a former residential school.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused Canada of continuing to carry out “racial discrimination” against Indigenous people.
Recently, some cities in British Columbia have cancelled Canada Day celebrations, such as Penticton and Victoria BC. Mayor of Penticton John Vassilaki said that when he heard about the discovery of remains in Kamloops of 215 children, he “thought it was appropriate to hold back and wait to see what the federal government was going to announce.”
They’re called the Liberal party, the very demographic O’Toole has been courting.
Federal 🇨🇦 voting intentions from Abacus Data:
LPC 37%
CPC 27%
NDP 18%
BQ 9% (39% in Qc)
GPC 5%Details and regionals: https://t.co/TWM0LTiNKu
[Abacus Data, June 18-21, 2021, n=2,070]#canpoli pic.twitter.com/VCdzEJvI13
— Philippe J. Fournier (@338Canada) June 24, 2021
In her decision, Judge Glennys McVeigh rejected the government’s arguments that the proposed suit failed to meet the legal grounds for certification although individuals could sue on their own, and that the claim had no prospect of success.
The total number of graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School is expected to be over three times higher than the 215 discovered recently in Kamloops.
An award-winning and influential Algonquin rights activist and professor at Queen’s University faces mounting scrutiny over the legitimacy of his claim of Indigenous identity.
The passage of this bill in the upper chamber means it will soon receive royal assent — a milestone National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations says marks an important day for First Nations, Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians on the path toward reconciliation.
“Canada must now take all measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Bellegarde said in a series of tweets reacting to the Senate vote.
“UNDRIP will help right the injustices of past, and ensure that Indigenous Peoples have a bright and prosperous future in Canada.”
Ka-Ching!
The national spotlight on residential schools is also highlighting a difficult question facing some communities over what to do with the buildings that have been left behind.
British Columbia’s Okanagan Indian Band penned a letter last week to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal government to remove three former day schools for Indigenous children that the chief called “symbols of trauma.”
Keewaywin First Nation in northern Ontario will no longer recognize Canada Day as a celebration and will instead mark it as a “day of mourning” until the federal government investigates the grounds of all former residential schools.
The day after being appointed a special adviser to Quebec on the issue of missing Indigenous children, Anne Panasuk said Wednesday she believes systemic racism exists in the province — in direct contrast to the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec’s insistence it does not.
“Yes, I believe it exists, and I have spoken with (Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière) about it,” Panasuk said in an interview on the Radio-Canada morning show Tout un matin.
New Democrats are calling on the federal government to recognize what happened at residential schools as genocide.
In a motion to be tabled in the House of Commons tomorrow [Thursday], NDP MP Leah Gazan is asking fellow lawmakers to unanimously deem the institutions’ history as the deliberate, systemic destruction of a cultural group.
In light of the recent discovery of what is believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at the site of a former residential school in B.C., some are renewing calls for Canada Day to be cancelled this year.
On social media, the hashtag #CancelCanadaDay has gained traction in recent days and several rallies organized by the Indigenous protest movement Idle No More have been planned for July 1 in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and in parts of Ontario.
Canadians almost universally agree that First Nations people were mistreated in the past and deserve reconciliation, and that much work is left to be done to achieve greater levels of freedom and opportunity for those in First Nations communities.
For that to happen though, we must make sure we pay attention to the full picture and full report of what has been found at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, also known as the Kamloops Indian Band.
Changes follow recommendations of a public inquiry into relations between Indigenous groups and some of Quebec’s public services.
Horwath’s office says the request was made in light of the discovery in Kamloops, B.C., of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school.
Ryerson was one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system, which sought to convert and assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian culture and saw them suffer widespread physical and sexual abuse.
