By Rochelle Baker\u00a0 Local Journalism Initiative First Nations leaders are dismayed BC Conservative Leader John Rustad chose to announce his party\u2019s proposed Indigenous policy on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The national holiday is a day of mourning that honours children and the survivors of residential schools, and acknowledges ongoing impacts to their families and communities. It\u2019s not an appropriate occasion for a political leader to proclaim his agenda for how he plans to work with Indigenous peoples should he become leader, Cheryl Casimer, First Nations Summit political executive told Canada\u2019s National Observer \u2014 particularly when that statement fails to uphold a commitment to Indigenous rights and title and the province\u2019s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). \u201cThe timing of it is what really infuriated… <\/p>\n
By Rochelle Baker\u00a0 Local Journalism Initiative First Nations leaders are dismayed BC Conservative Leader John Rustad chose to announce his party\u2019s proposed Indigenous policy on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The national holiday is a day of mourning that honours children and the survivors of residential schools, and acknowledges ongoing impacts to their families and communities. It\u2019s not an appropriate occasion for a political leader to proclaim his agenda for how he plans to work with Indigenous peoples should he become leader, Cheryl Casimer, First Nations Summit political executive told Canada\u2019s National Observer \u2014 particularly when that statement fails to uphold a commitment to Indigenous rights and title and the province\u2019s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). \u201cThe timing of it is what really infuriated... <\/p>\n