It is important to acknowledge progress.
We tend to focus on the work still ahead without raising our hands to incremental steps we have taken together.
It’s good to check-in.
When it comes to Indigenous relations in British Columbia we have a long way to go. So it might be difficult to recognize incremental change. But when we stop and point it out, it encourages it to continue.
We have a long and shameful history and we have not gone far enough, fast enough. Let me be clear, I regularly deal with racism. Both subtle and overt.
So, with that context, it is important to note that in my decade-long political career there has been remarkable change. What is even more remarkable is that there is a strong sentiment that it is not good enough!
It is evident in many aspects of my work. But, most obvious during my recent community meeting tour with our Member of Parliament, Elizabeth May when citizens stood up and demanded the provincial government strengthen its position on Indigenous rights.
Back in 2008 when I first ran for Central Saanich Council, I would have never dreamed of such a thing.
Today, my experience with all local government officials in Saanich North and the Islands from across the political spectrum, is a consistent and powerful message that they desire to create opportunities to connect, listen, learn and work across the lines.
During the 2013 provincial election a resident from Sidney came up to me after a candidate meeting and asked,
“So tell me who you really represent. Us? Or, them?
“Well, as a mixed-heritage person, I guess I am us, and them,” I said. “I don’t have the benefit of choosing.”
We are not over it, not by a long way. Maybe in some ways it is more subtle than before.
But, on the other side, there is a growing number of Canadians who have changed.
Something happened when Canadians of all backgrounds gathered in town squares and on the side of the highway to drum, sing and share with each other. I believe we were truly idle no more.
Where to now?
We have a long and sordid history. But, in the last decade we have come a long way.
So where do we go from here?
That will be up to each and every one of us. It will be a measure of our courage and our resolve to continue to improve.
There has been some progress, but there has also been the reaction of the reactionaries, and it’s raw and menacing at times. I tend to look at my own outlook and behaviour before straying too far afield, and I see that, where I once saw FN culture as outmoded and quaint, I have come to realize that it is the way of the colonizer that is leading us down the path to self-destruction. Keep leading, and be loud about it. Some of us still have beans in our ears.
The beans are falling out of a lot of ears! Hooray for that!
I agree that we sl need to improve.
As a white middle class male I am trying to learn. We don’t know what we don’t know. I am starting to teach my son the original place names. I really need some help here. is there a map of this area with the first names with pronunciation?
I don’t believe so. But, these resources are coming together and it won’t be long!