Indigenous-settler relations need bold solutions and strong political will – IRPP

December 20, 2022

Accurate words and a shared understanding of history are the first pieces needed to correct 150 years of neglectful and willfully harmful public policy.

Indigenous people in Canada are largely dispersed into electorally meaningless concentrations. For decades, the idea of the public in public policy almost explicitly excluded Indigenous people. But public policy has always been important to us. Here’s why.

We Indigenous people are overrepresented in the class of citizens without homes, without access to clean water, with poor health outcomes, in prisons and in child welfare systems. At the same time, they are underrepresented in corporate boardrooms, university classrooms, parliament and other spheres of political and economic influence.

Why is it that we as Canadians, who see each other as a moral people – why have we not sought bolder, more consequential change in our relationship with Indigenous people. Why hasn’t Canada adapted to the reality of this situation?

Read More: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/december-2022/sanderson-indigenous-solutions/