Don’t silence protest, right wrongs instead
By any reasonable measure, the Justice For Our Stolen Children camp in Wascana Park should be seen as a modest response to important and urgent issues that have otherwise been quickly removed from public attention.
The crystallizing events that gave rise to the protest were court decisions and investigations, which called into question such foundational principles as the value of human life and the protection of Indigenous families. And we shouldn’t expect anybody to slink away quietly while raising such crucial concerns.
But the ongoing disparities between Indigenous people and others within our province go far beyond the points being emphasized by the Wascana Park activists. And a constructive response to the camp should involve recognizing how much remains to be done to achieve reconciliation with Indigenous people — not lashing out at anybody who dares to remind us of the ongoing problems.
After all, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has made findings about the discriminatory lack of child and family services within First Nations jurisdiction. But the federal government’s response was to delay by two years any action in response to an order that it at least stop actively discriminating.
Schools under provincial jurisdiction are already struggling to keep afloat, with private fundraising increasingly taking the place of public resources. But First Nations schools face further underfunding of more than $6,000 for every student, with more limited community resources to fill in the gaps.
Housing is in short supply in most Canadian cities, and the provincial government is restricting access to it for the people who need it most. But the lack of housing is far more
Nothing changes for the better when the reality facing Indigenous people is hidden.
acute among First Nations, with overcrowding and major repair issues looming as more than six times more prevalent as elsewhere.
And while our own access to health care is facing challenges due to underfunding and creeping outsourcing, the problem is far more significant for Indigenous people who face both lesser access to services, and cultural barriers to fair treatment.
Each of those ongoing disparities places additional stresses on Indigenous communities and their members beyond the cumulative effects of centuries of deliberate discrimination. And while there has been some improvement in Indigenous standards of living in absolute terms, there’s been virtually no progress in closing the gap with Canadians at large.
The continued deprivation facing Indigenous people has all too often existed beyond the notice of the Saskatchewan Party, and indeed far too many of Saskatchewan’s citizens. And our history has shown that nothing changes for the better when the reality facing Indigenous people is hidden away.
But for Premier Scott Moe, a lack of change appears to be the goal.
His government held one meeting with protesters, at a point when public awareness was at its highest (and the historical echoes of forcibly pushing Indigenous people off of treaty land on Canada Day were at their most glaring).
But he and his government ministers have demonstrated a preference for clearing whatever part of the plains might be occupied by Indigenous people — all based on the assumptions that any lack of “good faith” lies on the side of the victims of systematic deprivation, and that the only resolution is to publicly silence that group as a precondition to closeddoor meetings.
In reality, a few teepees set up peacefully to allow for public awareness and dialogue represent the least of what might be expected in light of the ongoing unfairness in our midst. And instead of sweeping away the Justice For Our Stolen Children movement in the name of law and order, our response should be to finally start righting our past and ongoing wrongs.