As some municipalities in B.C. cancel formal Canada Day events, Skeena BC Liberal MLA Ellis Ross is speaking out in disagreement.
He says Canada Day should not be cancelled because the holiday gives people an opportunity to unite.
鈥淭he term reconciliation means to bring two parties back together and if you cancel these public events, there鈥檚 no opportunity to get the citizens back together. It鈥檚 a symbolic way for us to say, 鈥榊es, there are issues that we had in the past, but together, we can go forward in the future.鈥欌��
Ross, former Haisla Nation chief councillor and a BC Liberal leadership candidate, says that some people use reconciliation to divide people in terms of the historic abuses of Indigenous people.
As the number of residential school grave sites being discovered increases across Canada, he says that there鈥檚 going to be a whole range of emotions that come out 鈥� 鈥渂ut there鈥檚 more to come.鈥�
Ross is calling on leaders to be 鈥渞esponsible with their language鈥� because it could lead to anger on both sides.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want any acts of violence to be carried out on either side, to make up for what happened to Aboriginals, in the residential school system or the reserve system,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need anger, that leads to violence 鈥� I don鈥檛 think the real Aboriginal leaders in our communities want that either.鈥�
Ross鈥� parents attended residential school in Port Alberni, and he said as a young man there was a time when he was 鈥渃onsumed by anger鈥� at the historic mistreatment of his people. Despite that, Ross says he can鈥檛 鈥渓ive in the past鈥� which is a message he shares with Indigenous youth.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to go out there and build your future because your ancestors suffered too long for you to be you. So you鈥檝e got to go and do something with your life,鈥� he said.
According to Ross, who was a key player in the lead up to what is now the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, the way forward is by creating a stronger economy and jobs in the province. He said this could be a turning point in history鈥渋f we do the right thing.鈥�
He offered the gathering that took place in his constituency on National Indigenous Peoples Day earlier this month as an example of citizens showing politicians the way to reconciliation.
Hundreds of people from several First Nations assembled in Terrace as a convoy of mostly non-Indigenous truckers arrived from Kitimat to honour the 215 children found in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
鈥淭hat was the first time that I鈥檝e ever seen in public this raw emotion coming up from non-aboriginals that say, 鈥榳e understand your pain and we want to help you,鈥� and that鈥檚 the whole meaning of reconciliation.鈥�
