You can read Jody Wilson-Raybould’s strong op-ed here for more information.
The government released the following principles of recognition with Indigenous Peoples, drawing on your call for Recognition of the role Indigenous Peoples have played in founding Canada:
“The Government of Canada recognizes that Indigenous self-government is part of Canada’s evolving system of cooperative federalism and distinct orders of government […] Nation-to-nation, government-to-government, and Inuit-Crown relationships, including treaty relationships, therefore include: (a) developing mechanisms and designing processes which recognize that Indigenous peoples are foundational to Canada’s constitutional framework.”
Let’s encourage the Minister of Justice in her important work and ensure the Government stops nothing short of legal recognition.
Legislation that formally acknowledges Indigenous peoples as founding nations of Canada will allow for Canada to reconcile its past, laying a strong, hopeful, and inclusive foundation for a new relationship between settlers and Indigenous peoples