LET'S GET TO THE ROOT OF INDIGENOUS TRAUMA AND HEAL

THE ISSUES AND PROBLEMS IN OUR COUNTRY ARE THE RESULTS OF WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DID TO THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THIS LAND, SAYS JODY HARBOUR

party my parents chose. That one experience thrust me into a better understanding of the business that governs our country and my responsibility to its design.

The expression "don't talk about politics, religion or money" has steered most of the social environments in my lifestyle and generation.

My relationship to each of these topics, I realize today, was never a choice I was able to make on my own. These topics were intergenerationally appointed and implemented through our systems of oppression.

Raised as a proud Urban Indigenous woman, off reserve, away from culture, intergenerationally affected by colonization, I have a clearer understanding today of why the disconnect.

Last year at this time, the veil was lifted to the truths of how this country came to be. I now sit here baffled at how each of the political parties are proposing ideas that they believe will make this country a better place to live, not addressing the underlying rot that continues to plague our society.

This country has been built on theft of land, murdering of children and women with centuries of deception. The issues and problems in our country are the results of what the government did to the original people of this land. An apology, throwing money at lack of services, adding roads, protecting Greenbelt and Bluebelts or expanding the immigrant nominee program are not going to heal the historical trauma that has extended to our urban neighbourhoods.

We all know nothing gets fixed until you get to the root of the problem and where it began. So, let's start with the Indian Act and request that a few million dollars immediately get put aside to begin dissolving it. Or a few million go into designing a strategy to embed Indigenous values into our health care so our country can heal alongside our Indigenous people with better understanding of their role in reconciliation. Let's understand the Truth and Reconciliation Calls for action, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Urban Indigenous Action Plan are frameworks to guide.

What about inherent values of love?