Over the last few days, the rising sense of frustration regarding the government’s examination into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls seems to have finally boiled over.
One of the five commissioners tasked with looking at the issue decided to call it quits and many families who have lost loved ones are calling on a complete reboot of the process.
We can’t blame them.
After generations of mistreatment, racism and utter disregard by society, it hardly seems striking, as happened recently, that two First Nations activists would snap at reporters who berated them with discourteous question after question.
We’ve had our time to talk; now’s the time to let the people who were here before us have their say.
This year, as we all know, is Canada’s 150th birthday.
While some disregard First Nations contempt for the anniversary, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that many are invested in exploring what makes our self-celebration so problematic.
We can take solace, for instance, in the recent Pulling Together Canoe Journey that saw West Vancouver police and the Squamish Nation community work together and learn from each other as they paddled from Sunshine Coast to Vancouver.
It’s the simple gestures that can make the biggest difference.
Many of us are trying to listen and learn the best we can so the mistakes from the past aren’t repeated in the future. But more still needs to be done.
Let’s make the next 150 years better than the previous 150.
We have to.
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