Kamloops commemorates Red Dress Day
May 6, 2021
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As Canadians commemorate Red Dress Day in Canada, local government leaders are keen on addressing the national inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and the report’s 231 Calls for Justice.
Marion Buller, chief commissioner of the report, visited Thompson Rivers University to discuss the inquiry in 2019 and suggested the municipality and the band should begin strategizing how they can address the report. Some of the recommendations, Buller noted, include better resourced First Nations police services, health care to be treated a human right, the need for mobile services, safe and affordable transportation services, greater context when educating students about first contact and expanding legal aid.
Direct action has yet been taken at the local level, but there has been engagement on the p[art of the band and the city is ready to listen. Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Chief, Rosanne Casimir, said the band on its own has not looked into how to implement the report, but it has been involved in discussions through other organizations, such as the BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN). Casimir herself, in March, made a motion at the BC Assembly of First nations to expand engagement on the national action plan for the report. “As a band, that is something we don’t have a department working on but what we do have is individuals who will be tasked to the various committees that are out there, advocating, supporting and participating,” Casimir said.
UNDRIP legislation turning into a distraction from real action on Indigenous self-determination By Heather Exner-Pirot. Published on Apr 19, 2021 6:51am The need for an action plan that provides clarity and protection for Indigenous rights only grows. Justice Minister David Lametti in Ottawa
in February 2019. (Toronto Star/Patrick Doyle)
One would have thought the kinks of UNDRIP legislation would have been worked out by now. Indeed, they have not. Opposition to C-15, which is now being studied in committee, is coming from all sides. Rather than forging ahead with this legislation, we need to step back and think about what we are trying to achieve, and how to best protect the rights and improve the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
“Our constitutional right to make decisions about forestry resources in our Territory, as governing authority in our Territory, must be respected,” the statement said.
The Fairy Creek area has been blockaded for eight months in a bid to protect what protesters say are some of the last old-growth stands of cedar on South Vancouver Island.
Teal-Jones Group, which holds the tree farm licence and approved cut-blocks and has the support of First Nations, wants to begin logging about 200 hectares along a ridge line above the Fairy Creek watershed and has a court injunction to remove the protesters.
There has been a tense standoff since the B.C. Supreme Court granted the injunction April 1, with the Rainforest Flying Squad saying they are willing to be arrested.
The Pacheedaht First Nation says it will determine what will be logged and preserved in its territory through a resource stewardship plan, and it does not support “third-party activism” taking . . .