Re: “Residential school holiday will be created: Trudeau,” Aug. 17.
I’m with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his reconciliation commitment “with the Indigenous people who lived on this land for millennia.” And who would say no to a new stat holiday?
I’m confused, though. How does this square with going full-bore on the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and the Site C dam, mega-projects strongly opposed by many First Nations, some still in court trying to stop them?
As Trudeau says: “We failed to uphold the honour of the Crown and, more than that, we did our best to try to erase Indigenous cultures with such projects as residential schools.”
Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Trudeau. Maybe now, instead of photo ops and playing to the crowds, it’s time to deal with crucial current issues that ride roughshod over Indigenous treaty rights, instead of humbly apologizing for the past and then climbing back onto the steamroller.
Dorothy Field
Victoria
