I get asked to talk about Indigenous issues a lot, and since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report, the whole concept of “reconciliation” has become a hot ticket notion. Invariably during the Q&A sessions, people ask, “what can I do?” I’m a big fan of having at least a short list of…
Tag: reconciliation
Reconciliation in the time of pipelines
“This decision was based on science, traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples and other relevant scientific evidence.” – Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change[1] On September 27th, the federal government announced it had approved the Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas (PNWLNG) project in British Columbia. Catherine McKenna pointed to the 190 conditions that govern…
Fool me once: Colonialism denial finds a happy home in Canadian media
Just one day after tens of thousands people took to the streets of Vancouver in support of reconciliation, the Nanaimo Daily News once again published a racist rant making it clear that for too many Canadians, reconciliation is really about soothing the discomfort of settlers who do not want to take responsibility for Canada’s annihilationist…