Editor:
An open letter to all politicians:
In the last few months, the legacy of residential schools and the impact of climate change have left Canadians reeling. And we watch in horror as they come together in the decimation of the community of Lytton and fires across B.C. Indigenous people will be disproportionately affected.
Please know, as you contemplate your political future, that this year has taught us that while crisis and change are traumatic, they are not intolerable. But the status quo is most certainly is.
Reconciliation must happen now. The suffering and inequality of Indigenous peoples must be meaningfully addressed. You need to provide voters with a specific course of action based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and put these actions in place immediately, while continuing to support the recovery of the victims of residential schools and secure clean water for everyone in this country. We don’t care whose jurisdiction or how it’s paid for. Just do it.
You must also take meaningful, brave and impactful action on climate change based on peer-reviewed, evidence-based research. We are burning. Homes, lives, plants and animals are in peril. Make it your priority.
Everything depends on these two realities. Employment, economy, opioid deaths, cost of living, health care, international relations – all issues that hinge on our treatment of Indigenous and racialized people, and our ability to stop climate change.
And to base your actions on fear, hate and knee-jerk public opinion means we will all continue to suffer. Your dependency on strategy based on popularity across election cycles has failed us. Please be brave and find a better way to make positive change, not just stay in office.
There is a sense of urgency that many white middle class folks like myself are now experiencing. We’ve been quiet in the past; that top part of the bell curve of public opinion that lets the haters and the acolytes duke it out.
No more.
We will head the call to use our privilege to address problems for others and the planet. And we will be watching you and demanding more.
Please consider yourself warned.
Lori Walker, New Westminster
