The last three federal leaders debates, covering topics as varied as the economy and foreign affairs, had a gaping blind spot: there was no meaningful discussion of the challenges facing indigenous people and their communities.
When the work of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) came to a close this June, the breadth of news coverage it received gave us hope that our country was finally at a turning point and might begin to use the acknowledgement of Canada’s dark and discriminatory past to address the economic, social and cultural struggles faced by too many aboriginal people. And yet, the issue seems to have been omitted from the public debates informing our upcoming election choices.
As honorary witnesses to the TRC and members of civil society from across Canada’s political spectrum, we urge all voting Canadians to make reconciliation an issue at the ballot box next month. And we call upon all Canadians to demand that all political parties explain their plans to finally change this country’s course.
We believe that rebuilding trust and forging new relationships based on mutual respect should be a centrepiece of a governing agenda for any political party vying for votes on Oct. 19.
In June of this year, the Centre for the Study of Living Standards estimated that closing the aboriginal-education gap would add $261 billion to the country’s GDP over 20 years. In 2031 alone, that could mean a GDP greater by $28.3 billion (in 2010 dollars). Reconciliation with indigenous peoples is not merely a social justice issue, but an economic one. We ignore this at our own peril.
As the three commissioners for the TRC observed in their 10 principles for reconciliation:
“Reconciliation requires constructive action on addressing the ongoing legacies of colonialism that have had destructive impacts on Aboriginal peoples’ education, cultures and languages, health, child welfare, the administration of justice and economic opportunities and prosperity.”
One benefit of having four weeks left in this long election campaign is that there is still time for voters to ask the parties, leaders and their local candidates where they stand on First Nations, Métis and Inuit issues.
We also call upon the organizers of future debates to dedicate sections of their programming to meaningful conversation about what the parties are prepared to do to act on the recommendations of the TRC.
The opposition parties have promised to act on all of the TRC’s calls to action. Yet with 94 recommendations in total, they must share with Canadians their concrete plans for implementation. Would they act first to close the on-reserve education funding gap (call to action #8), or would they make addressing the jurisdictional issues that prevent many aboriginal people from accessing quality health care their top priority (call to action #20)? Both require urgent remedies and have real impacts on the future prosperity and current well-being of our fellow Canadians.
After the thousands of gut-wrenching residential school survivor statements heard by the TRC over the past six years, it is not enough for a party to respond by paying lip service to reconciliation
The question for the governing Conservatives is whether they would commit to implement any of the other recommendations. So far, they’ve committed to one: funding the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (call to action #78). While the work of the NCTR is important, many of the other recommendations deal directly with improving economic and social outcomes.
After the thousands of gut-wrenching residential school survivor statements heard by the TRC over the past six years, it is not enough for a party to respond by paying lip service to reconciliation. Canadians deserve to know where the parties stand and what they intend to do, to begin to set things right.
In order to make an informed voting decision, Canadians need to see specific funding and policy proposals for responding to the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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One of the starting points should be to act on calls to action #53-56 by creating a “National Council for Reconciliation” — “an independent, national, oversight body” to monitor the social and economic indicators and publish an annual “state of Aboriginal peoples” report. This would set benchmarks for measuring both the progress made on improving the lives of indigenous people and on the implementation of the other TRC recommendations.
For the parties in this election, creating the National Council for Reconciliation would help move the project of reconciliation from aspirational to tangible.
For the voting citizens of Canada, signalling that our votes will be influenced by where the parties stand on this issue is a concrete step we can take towards achieving reconciliation.
At a time when our country is called upon to meet its obligations as a responsible member of the global community, by responding with generosity — as we must — to the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East and southern Europe, let us also rise to the original moral challenge facing our society here at home and take steps along the path to reconciliation laid out by the TRC.
National Post
Signed:
Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, PC, CC, AOE
Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, PC, CC
Stephen Kakfwi, Canadians for a New Partnership, Former NWT Premier
Phil Fontaine, OC, OM, Former 3-term National Chief of the AFN
Mary Simon, OC, OQ
Barbara Hall, Former Toronto Mayor, Ontario Human Rights Commission
Clara Hughes, OC, OM, MSC, Olympian
Grand Chief Ed John, First Nations Summit
Joseph Boyden, Author
Shelagh Rogers, OC, Radio Host
Jim Scarrow, former Prince Albert Mayor
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Educator
Sylvia Smith, Educator
Charlotte Wolfrey, Inuit advocate
Daniel Paul, Fisheries Biologist
Patsy George, Retired Public Servant
Daniel H.T. Wong, Author & Architect
Charles-Mathieu Brunelle, Arts Administrator
Eloge Butera, Lawyer & Survivor of Rwandan Genocide
Jonathan Sas, Broadbent Institute & Grandchild of Holocaust Survivors
Robbie Waisman, Holocaust survivor & co-founder of Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre
Tina Keeper, Actor & former MP
Wab Kinew, Author
