To the Editor:
To any person interested, the impact of 19th-century colonialism worldwide is more than obvious by the sate of affairs not only in South America. Africa is the legacy of social failures experienced by those in the affected regions to this day – Feb. 19.
The third glaring example is blatantly obvious from coast to coast in both Canada as well as the United States of America. But for the purpose of discussion, I would like to cover the history in what was once British North America.
One of the classic examples of colonial negativity was the exclusion, in the last part of the 20th century, of Canada’s first Canadians in the preamble of the Charter of Rights. This documented two founding peoples only and also only recognized Quebec as a distinct society, effectively denying the contribution of the first Canadians to the development of our infant nation. It was the final “nail in the coffin” and a missed opportunity exceeded only by the repressive Indian Act of 1876.
After exonerating Poundmaker (peacemaker) in his first campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid the price of dismissing his own Indigenous attorney-general in his second bid for prime minister in 2019.
Due to outrage at his bungling of the SNC Lavalin scandal and the gift of $300 million to Bombardier, Mr. Trudeau barely clung to power with a minority government. Having learned nothing from these two blunders, Mr. Trudeau was nailed once again over the patronage allocation of a proposed $500 million to his family’s favourite charity - WE.
If the new Conservative leader would learn from Andrew Scheer, he would perhaps refrain from attacking the Liberals and propose an agenda with an economic strategy suitable to all Canadians, not just Quebecois.
For once could Justin Trudeau do unlike Stephen Harper who preceded him and deliver on some of the Liberals’ campaign promises? The evolution of responsible government to replace the Indian Act would end one-and-a-half centuries of excluding our first Canadians from the political arena, not only in Ottawa, but across the entire nation in the new millennium.
Angus Campbell Sr.
Thompson
