Wilson-raybould’s last word
At a 1983 conference on Native issues, Indigenous leader Bill Wilson told prime minister Pierre Trudeau that he had two children who, “for some misguided reason,” want to be lawyers, and want to be prime minister. Both, he adds, are women. “Tell them I’ll stick around till they’re ready,” Trudeau replies. “Mr. chairman,” Wilson retorts, “I’m informed by the government of British Columbia that one of them could be out here on a plane this evening.”
The clash of Wilson-trudeau would have to wait another 30 years, but eventually the plane from British Columbia landed, ferrying a daughter of Bill Wilson. The first Indigenous minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, Jody Wilson-raybould found herself the object of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s displeasure over her principled refusal to bend to pressure in the Snclavalin affair.
The rest is history. And just as Wilson had the last word with Trudeau the elder in 1983, Wilson-raybould has put Trudeau the younger in his place: in a scathing letter announcing her intention to withdraw from federal politics on July 8, she writes that Parliament “has become more and more toxic and ineffective while simultaneously marginalizing individuals from certain backgrounds.”
Diagnosing the malady, Wilson-raybould identifies “the power of the prime minister and the centralization of power in the hands of those who are unelected,” as well as the erosion of governing principles, the lack of courage to speak the truth and the failure of bystanders to support those who do.
This comes in a month that has been exceptionally bleak for women in politics, especially Indigenous women. Wilson-raybould’s retirement follows the departures of Infrastructure Minister Catherine Mckenna and Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who also made scathing remarks about the government and Parliament in her farewell address.
I first met Wilson-raybould when she was a regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. She gave a speech at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto that made me think she was headed somewhere. I would have guessed AFN national chief, not prime minister, Bill Wilson’s premonition notwithstanding. Maybe she was misguided in her career choice, but today she’s giving guidance that ought to be heeded.
Though it now seems improbable, she may become prime minister yet. After all, her repudiation of Trudeau’s cult of personality makes her a more compelling candidate. Her letter furthermore contains the refrain “at this time,” which leaves the door open to a possible return.
In either case, she’s provided useful insight into a party that has sold itself as progressive, inclusive and feminist, while driving away female talent and retaining underperformers and partisan hacks.