How much are children worth?

DEAR EDITOR:

The question of money for residential school survivors and families is on the table, because that is where we have determined value.

We need to part with something of value in recompense for having robbed a culture of all that they love and value — the resistance to monetary compensation says more about us than the Indigenous people. We have created a system, where everything has a price attached — that is something we created. We also know that there are costs attached to just about everything.

Our accountability lies in our response.

I could not be more disgusted with the history of our treatment of the Indigenous people and I am determined not to allow the racism, colonialism, toxic religion and greed to continue to narrow the choices and the opportunities of our First Nations.

The fact that no criminal charges against perpetrators of overt abuse and neglect is about privilege, so where do people turn when the people who are supposed to caredon’t?

Every judgement against a people tells us who we are, not who they are.

Greater minds gathered and began uncovering the impact of the systemic genocide that people in this country endured on this land. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began an important work. They have made 94 recommendations. These are not arbitrary suggestions. This was written by people invested in finding a path to heal our nation. We need to push for these.

I am all for moving forward, but we have work to do to make sure no one is left behind.

We, as a people, need to invest in helping to heal what we broke, in the way we would if it was our own families who endured these atrocities.

Money is just an exchange of values.

How much are your children worth?

Sandra Lucier Penticton