Image: Conservative Party of BC / Facebook / B.C.’s Conservative leader John Rustad (centre) with Chilliwack Conservative candidate Á’a:líya (A’aliya) Warbus at Cultus Lake on Sept. 30, 2024.

By Don Mitchell

Truth and Reconciliation Day

Governments ‘need to be mapping a very different course’ with Indigenous peoples, Rustad says during Chilliwack stop

Sep 30, 2024 | 12:41 PM

CHILLIWACK – B.C.’s Conservative leader suggested that politicians need to do more for Canada’s First Nations through “economic reconciliation” and “strategically” returning land.

During a stop in Chilliwack on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, John Rustad insisted upon “mapping a very different course” with the country’s Indigenous peoples, saying the “big government approach” over the decades has “been terrible.”

“It’s very … vital that First Nations engage in the economy, that first nations have that opportunity to be able to deliver prosperity for its people rather than what is currently happening,” Rustad said, alongside local Conservative candidate Á’a:líya (A’aliya) Warbus at Cultus Lake on Monday morning.

“True, true reconciliation cannot be achieved without economic reconciliation.”

Rustad said that if the Conservatives are elected in October, they would seek to help communities with housing, clean water, addiction treatment, environmental stewardship, and re-acquiring land.

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Warbus, a member of the Sto:lo Nation and the daughter of former B.C. Lieutenant Governor Steven Lewis Point, characterized the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as “an exciting shift” in government relations with Indigenous people.

She is one of 11 Indigenous candidates vying for seats across 93 ridings this fall, including two Conservatives, seven NDP, and two from the Green Party.

Following Rustad’s address Monday, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) released a statement claiming the Conservative leader is on a “crusade” to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

First Nations Leadership Council: “Rustad’s Indigenous Platform Doubles Down on His Dangerous Commitment to Repeal Indigenous Human Rights” https://t.co/4MuQW9thpi. “This “plan” will set us back decades and will continue to pit First Nations against other British Columbians.”… pic.twitter.com/nWPGuTKCeH

— First Nations Summit (@FNSummit) September 30, 2024

The act, brought into law in 2019, serves as the province’s framework for reconciliation, as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

FNLC members argue that Rustad’s platform includes several initiatives the NDP government is already working on.

“We’ve moved forward on title recognition, revenue sharing, child and family services, housing on reserve and in many other ways,” the letter said.

“We can’t go backwards and undo the Declaration Act, which underpins our current work, and the years of progress we have made together.”