SOUND OFF: Rothenburger’s, Stone’s words on residential school discovery ring hollow

Then Mel parrots Conservative Party of Canada leader Erin O’Toole when he says, “the schools were seen by the governments of the day as a way to provide Indigenous children with an education and to make First Nations economically self-sufficient. Some Indigenous leaders agreed with those goals but things worked out much differently than they’d hoped.”

The context Mel fails to give was the actual intention of the schools, as described by the man who created them, John A MacDonald. Does he think that “some” Indigenous leaders agreed with John A, when he said, “When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write. It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.”

Does he think that some Indigenous leaders agreed with Duncan Campbell Scott, the man in charge of Indian policy in Canada when he said, “It is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habitating so closely in these schools, and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is being geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem.”

The next people in history called a problem, who needed a final solution were Jewish people.

Instead, we’re fed the Mayor’s pablum about how accidental these deaths were and the purpose of the schools.

The fact his column was posted the next day, as opposed to the words of an Indigenous person or a person of colour are just part of the problem facing our society.

I’m getting tired of Old Stock Canadian perspectives given top priority across the country, whether if be Mel, Rex Murphy, Conrad Black, Brian Lilley or Jonathan Kay. CFJC can and should do better at elevating voices other than the constant buzz of WASPs (White Anglo Saxon Protestants).

Yeah, I understand Mel can claim he’s Metis, but this isn’t the point; one of us isn’t followed around a grocery store.

Second to Todd Stone, MLA for South Kamloops.

In 2006, the Highway of Tears Symposium Recommendations Report recommended, as it’s Number 1 priority: That a shuttle bus transportation system be established between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16, defined as the Highway of Tears.

The BC Liberals, who were in government, sat on their hands.

In 2012, former Attorney General Wally Oppal, in his report on Murdered and Missing Women, urged the BC Liberal government to move ahead with the creation of a shuttle bus.

Again, the BC Liberals sat on it.

Enter Todd Stone.

When Stone was Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, his Ministerial Assistant George Gretes deleted emails related to a Freedom of Information Request regarding the Highway of Tears, a stretch of road from Prince George to Prince Rupert notorious for the number of women who’ve gone missing on it.

His assistant not only deleted them, he triple deleted them: — triple deleting means first moving an email to the computer system’s “deleted” folder, expunging the email from the folder itself, and then manually overriding a backup that allows the system to recover deleted items for up to 14 days.

While Minister of Transportation, Stone deflected calls for a shuttle bus along Highway 16, claiming, after consultation, a shuttle wasn’t practical. Then, after 36 pages of consultation with communities were released, Stone and his government were shamed into doing the right thing and create a shuttle bus system – which has now been expanded.

I guess what I’m trying to say here, Todd Stone doesn’t have any credibility on this file and before he shares his thoughts on 215 children found in Kamloops, he should apologize to the families and communities he lied to when he told them they didn’t want a safe shuttle bus as a form of transportation.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

by Joseph Jack

SOUND OFF: Rothenburger’s, Stone’s words on residential school discovery ring hollow

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