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[Transcript]
My name is SȾHENEP. It is a name that has been here in this territory for many, many generations. I am from W̱JOȽEȽP and proud to represent our territory in the BC Legislature.
I would like to thank the Mayor Steve Price, who, as he mentioned, I have worked with for as long as we have been in politics, eh? We got elected together in 2008, eh!
The Chiefs, my Chief, Don Tom, and Chief Harvey Underwood, as well as my uncles, relatives here who opened it up, and my relatives, the carvers, Perry and Tom.
I would like to thank the Town of Sidney, for moving this forward and taking this step to put this symbol in the place where they have put it, facing the ocean and welcoming people into this territory, it is the spirit of who we are as W̱SÁNEĆ people to, as was said, welcome newcomers into this territory, that is what that symbol does. I am proud to have worked with the Town of Sidney, in the lead up to Canada 150 celebrations, in talking, in discussing, in understanding that the city, the town here does this from a very genuine place. This is not a symbol of trying to make up for the past, it is something that has been done today, with goodness, in a good way, I’ll say.
This morning, as has been acknowledged, I want to acknowledge that Canada 150 celebrations has not been easy for all the members of our community, the Indigenous people, and I have a lot of conversations with my family about this, this has been a tough, a tough year and a tough acknowledgement of the sesquicentennial and it’s important that we acknowledge that, and we speak very clearly about the difficulties that this celebration of the Confederation of Canada brings to the Indigenous people.
We have an ancient history in W̱SÁNEĆ and across the country, and I think that we in this time have an opportunity to learn a lot from the people who have lived worked and played in this place in the lands and the seas here for countless generations and it’s time for us to open ourselves up to the opportunities that those teachings can give us.
This welcome figure that’s going to be represented, represents a commitment to reconciliation that has been talked about. Reconciliation starts with acknowledging our past, our journey to today, but it’s important as Mayor Price said, what’s important is the next 150 years, what we do with what we know now, the actions that we take, as was said by the Lieutenant-Governor.
So HÍ,SḴW̱E to the Town of Sidney, for your courage in acknowledging this and providing this reminder on your waterfront for all of us to see, for future generations.
HÍ,SḴW̱E to Niall, and the District of Central Saanich for taking the important step to start to talk about ȾIX̱EṈ, is that how it is pronounced? ȾIX̱EṈ? Cordova Spit, lands that were, that are right next to Tsawout, and very much part of Tsawout, somehow got subdivided and made to become part of Central Saanich.
HÍ,SḴW̱E to the District of North Saanich, for the important work that you have done over the past year, the Dunsmuir lands, the important sacred place that we know as ȽÁUWELṈEW̱, thank you for your courage in what you did there with Pauquachin.
Over the decades our Province has not done enough, in fact the Province has been an obstacle in many sense to reconciliation, in moving the relationship forward. Over the past 20 years we have seen mixed results, we have seen some successes and we have also seen some setbacks.
But I am excited about the opportunity that we have right in front of us. I’m excited about the commitment that we have made, that this government and my colleagues have made to renewing the relationship with Indigenous people in British Columbia embracing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, embracing the concept of free, prior and informed consent. But it is one thing to embrace concepts, and to use the right language, the right words, it is another thing entirely to follow these concepts, and those words, with the action, as Chief Tom said.
The latter is what I intend on doing in my time in office, my work in the “big room” in the Legislature as my son Silas calls it, and on the ground right here in W̱SÁNEĆ.
This week the Federal Government announced a set of principles that will guide the transformation of the relationship at the Federal level. I’ll just quote a little piece of it, it is important language.
“The Government of Canada is committed to achieving reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through a renewed, nation-to-nation, government-to-government, Inuit-Crown relationship based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership as the foundation of transformative change.”
It is time for the Province of British Columbia to make the same commitment and I look forward to working with the new Minister to adopt our own set of principles that reflect the commitment made by the Government of Canada.
I look forward to working with all the elected leaders here in W̱SÁNEĆ, to bring our communities together. We are stronger together and together we can more effectively usher in a new era of social justice, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity for our Province and for our territory here in W̱SÁNEĆ. HÍ,SḴW̱E. Thank you.
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