Protesters wave a flag at Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a “Cancel Canada Day” protest in response to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
People often decry words and call for action after tragic events. But words are action and they’re fundamental to Canadian democracy.
Two girls lay in bed in the dormitory at All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge, Sask., in 1945.
(Boorne & May. Library and Archives Canada, e010962312)
The minutiae of bureaucratic policy and procedure perpetuates colonialism and undermined a fully Tŝilhqot’in-led pandemic response.
Members of the Tsuut'ina Nation take part in a silent march in memory of the 215 children whose remains were found in Kamloops.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Acts of genocide were strategically implemented by church and the Canadian government to remove Indigenous people from their land and, in turn, their culture.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller and commissioners Brian Eyolfson, Qajaq Robinson and Michele Audette prepare the final report to give to the government at the closing ceremony for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The MMIWG Inquiry two years later: What’s changed and what still needs to be done?
Two young children sit next to shoes left in front of a statue of Egerton Ryerson, who was instrumental in the design and implementation of the Indian Residential School System.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
An Indigenous lawyer makes the case that what happened to Indigenous children who went to residential schools is genocide and the case should be tried by the International Criminal Court.
People embrace in front of the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill at a memorial for the 215 children whose remains were found at the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
A commitment to eliminating racism must be reflected in accountability mechanisms that focus on the impacts of coordinated and consistent anti-racist action.
People across Canada, including this scene in Edmonton, have left shoes and candles at public displays in recognition of the discovery of children’s remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Ground-penetrating radar located the remains of 215 First Nations children in a mass unmarked grave, revealing a macabre part of Canada’s hidden history.
A voter waits to enter a polling area to cast his ballot for Assembly of First Nations National Chief on July 25, 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The federal government needs to amend the necessary regulations of the Indian Act and First Nations Elections Act to allow First Nations to choose their own voting methods.
A boy sits on a bridge over a man-made channel in the First Nation of Shoal Lake 40, straddling the Manitoba/Ontario border, in June 2015. Until recently, a boil-water advisory had been in place in the community for more than 20 years despite its relative close proximity to Winnipeg.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
The federal government’s announcement that boil-water advisories on First Nations won’t end until 2023 at the earliest isn’t surprising. The true crisis is much greater than widely known.
Tjapukai Shaw, the Air Force’s Indigenous liaison officer, on an outreach mission to Indigenous communities in a remote part of NSW in 2019.
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
These issues matter to our strategic allies, particularly in the Pacific. Dutton’s climate change scepticism and attitudes toward First Nations people could have a damaging effect.
Clayoquot Sound, part of the Tla-o-qui-aht territory, has been the site of numerous protests against logging the forest. Meares Island was declared a Tribal Park in 1984.
(Shutterstock)
To combat the biodiversity crisis, we need to fundamentally shift our economy and society and make nature conservation the norm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland the thumbs up after she delivered the federal budget in the House of Commons.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Budget 2021 includes significant investment in Indigenous communities. Moving forward, post-pandemic recovery and future budgets need to address systemic inequalities.
A more equitable approach to dealing with microaggressions would be to put the onus of addressing them onto the perpetrators.
(Shutterstock)
The destruction of IAP residential school records and media reports that continually emphasize compensation will ensure that if remembered, the process will be remembered through a colonial gaze.
The infrastructure gap has forced Indigenous people to think outside the box, leverage their own funds.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
While investments are important, what’s more important is the process and mechanisms through which Indigenous people access funding.
By identifying the need to tackle systemic discrimination instead of colonialism, Trudeau is reinforcing an established idea in Canadian politics: that colonialism is history.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Narratives that historicize colonialism are not new. Canadians and our leaders have a long history of denying our settler colonial present.
Indigenous people with experience guiding culturally safe talking circles in an online environment can work with students to nurture safe virtual spaces.
(Shutterstock)
Student respondents to a survey discussed memories of historical trauma of infectious disease and displacement, financial hardship related to Alberta tuition hikes and mental health concerns.
A water bottle sits on the table in front of Chief and NDP candidate Rudy Turtle during a visit by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on Oct. 5, 2019 on the Grassy Narrows First Nation, where industrial mercury poisoning in its water system has seriously affected the health of the community.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages may be intended to improve health, but for Indigenous consumers, such a tax would be unethical, contravene tax law and undermine Indigenous rights.
Ministries of education need to embed ongoing anti-racist training into their teacher education programs. Short-term anti-bias training has little impact. Here, a school school in Toronto.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University