Martin urges partnership with indigenous peoples
The time has come for indigenous and non-indigenous people to start working together, former prime minister Paul Martin told a crowd at Trent University on Friday morning.
And Martin believes Trent graduates have the wherewithal to help create that partnership.
“I believe that the experience you have gathered here at Trent provides the insight for the new partnership, I believe is so needed, between indigenous and nonindigenous camp,” he said.
Martin addressed graduates Friday morning after receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Martin was the 21st prime minister of Canada, from 2003 to 2006.
He mentioned how Trent’s founding president, Tom Symons, undertook what was considered a revolution in native studies when he launched the university 50 years ago.
Today, Trent’s legacy continues to grow with president Leo Groarke’s decision to introduce the indigenous bachelor of education degree, Martin added.
As a society, Martin said Canadians have laboured for justice and in large measure we’ve succeeded.
“But when we look at indigenous Canada, we are blighted by our blind spots. And as long as those remain, our work will be unfinished. Our potential unfulfilled and the promise of Canada unkept,” he said.
That’s why it’s time to forge a real partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous people.
“A partnership based on the same values of truth, respect and understanding that you, the graduates, have learned at Trent.”
Some will argue that Canada can’t afford to give the first people the education, the health care and the child welfare the rest of Canada has, Martin said.
“But that is morally repugnant and it is also economic nonsense…the cost of teaching indigenous students to grow up confident in their own ability to take on the world is nothing compared to the cost of illiteracy, suicide and incarceration.”
Due to advances in terms of data analysis and technology, jobs are changing as we speak, Martin said.
To keep up with those advancements, future generations need to learn new skill sets constantly.
As a society, Canadians have to make sure every student in the country who wants those skills can get them, including indigenous students.
“Indigenous students, the youngest and fastest growing segment of our population, cannot be left out of this new frontier if we are going to have a workable economy in the future.”
But we need to respect the indigenous world view, Martin said.
How can we move ahead when Canadian scholars are confined to a conventional wisdom bound by western limits and sustained by those who have no curiosity, the father of three asked.
“The answer is, we can’t. And that’s why your time here will prove to be so important for your country. As graduates of Trent, you are heirs to a tradition, which speaks to the soul of this land.”