Canada has three founding peoples, not two, and if we Canadians care about justice and achieving right relations with Indigenous people in Canada, we and all levels of our governments would do well to remember this as we prepare to celebrate "Canada 150," the Board of Grey County Local 344 of the National Farmers Union-Ontario (NFU-O) says.
The Local has been co-sponsoring a series of courses designed to introduce non-Indigenous people to the role Indigenous peoples have played in Canada's development as a country. The courses are led by a Grey County-based Ojibway historian and teacher.
"Explicitly recognizing Indigenous peoples as co-founders of Canada would be an important and very meaningful acknowledgement," says Gary Kenny, president of the Local.
The lack of recognition, Kenny adds, "has contributed to the litany of historical and contemporary injustices to which Indigenous peoples have been subjected.
Kenny and the Grey Local Board echoed the call this week by the National Farmers Union which in a media release stated, "As people across Canada are celebrating the 150th anniversary of confederation, the NFU is convinced that this is a crucial time to be addressing both the historical and ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples."
"Now is the time for the federal government to take action to dismantle the systemic barriers that are compromising Indigenous peoples' rights and self-determination," the NFU statement said. "Kind words and consultations are not enough."
What ought non-Indigenous Canadians and their government do to set right past and present wrongs? They can call for the full implementation of the calls for action laid out by both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In this context, the NFU and Grey County Local call on the Liberal government to take swift action to resolve land claim disputes and violations of Indigenous treaty rights, and to rein in extractive industries whose projects threaten the well-being of Indigenous peoples in their territories.
"On July 1st, Canada Day, we hope that non-Indigenous Canadians and their governments will realize the need to take the TRC's call to action more seriously." Kenny added.
"We know as farmers that we need to be having difficult conversations about how we have come to the land on which we are farming...We need to figure out how to move forward together, given that non-Indigenous farmers have benefitted from access to lands acquired through deceitful, coercive or violent means," the NFU statement said.
"That means facing some hard truths about the history and consequences of settler-colonialism in Canada," the statement continued.
"We cannot have food sovereignty in Canada without Indigenous food sovereignty—and Indigenous self-determination in general," said Alya Fenton, the NFU's youth coordinator.
The NFU has recently established an Indigenous Solidarity Working Group (ISWG). Why does this solidarity work matter to a farm organization? Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights are among the most important social justice issues in Canada. "Our commitment to social justice and human rights internationally has been one of the fundamental tenets of the NFU; therefore, to not take up these struggles in our own country would be a betrayal of those principles," the NFU said in its statement.
The NFU has called its Locals to help their members understand our shared history and build solidarity with Indigenous communities through education, policy work and activism.
One of the ways the Grey County Local has responded to the NFU's call is by co-sponsoring the series of courses called "Introduction to Indigenous Issues." The course, which those who have taken it have described variously as "eye-opening," "mind-blowing," and "truth telling without inducing shame and guilt and instead inspiring solidarity and motivation," has proven to be popular and has filled up each time it's been offered. It consists of three two-hour sessions. The next course is scheduled for September. Anyone interested can contact Gary Kenny by phone (519)-799-5804 or email.
source: media release
