B.C. is on its way to becoming the first province in Canada to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In the legislature Thursday morning – surrounded by symbols of colonization – hereditary chiefs, elected chiefs and elders welcomed the act being tabled.
It’s being called a historic moment by Indigenous leaders who have an acute understanding of how their people have been historically treated by the Crown.
The legislation will be complex but it sets a new standard for how Victoria operates with a “commitment to respect, promote and protect the rights of Indigenous peoples” in both existing and future laws.
It is not just a powerful symbol to the thousands of Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people who were dispossessed of land we now occupy. It’s a tangible step toward restoring the dignity and quality of life that was taken from them and ensures they will no longer be subjects of laws they had no part in making.
There are concerns it may impede natural resource projects that cross the traditional lands of First Nations. But, we’d like to think this sets those projects up for more certainty than endless clashes in the courts. And, as Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president Stewart Philip has said: “Reconciliation is not for wimps.”
In this same edition, we bring you a story of Carisbrooke Elementary students making the walk to the St. Paul’s Indian Residential School Memorial. We admire those kids for taking their own small steps on the path to reconciliation. Adopting UNDRIP, we hope, will be a big one.
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