Image Credit: CFJC Today / File

By Dave Barry

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Aug 6, 2021 | 1:36 PM

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc revelation of unmarked graves near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site has been said before.

It’s not that the rest of Canada didn’t know about the horrors of residential schools – intellectually, we did.

The Tk’emlups findings brought that knowledge into a different part of our brains – the part that allows us to visualize the horrors in a sharper focus – one that a written report could scarcely facilitate.

Now, it seems there may be some real momentum in the path toward reconciliation.

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For example, many voters will place reconciliation with Indigenous peoples at the very top of their priority lists when the next federal election comes along, likely this fall.

It will be interesting to see whether the destruction of the village of Lytton by wildfire will do the same thing with climate change.

There are some similarities with how the broader public views these two issues.

With climate change, most people agree on the basic facts that it is happening and that it – in the abstract – is bad.

The fire that all but destroyed Lytton in one fell swoop gave us a grave example.

On June 27, Lytton set a Canadian high temperature record. It bettered that record on June 28 and June 29.

But even that wasn’t what set the table for this disaster.

This area saw its driest spring on record. Even without the heat dome, Lytton was already primed for a major, fast-moving fire. In fact, the entire region was. It’s really just a tragic coincidence that the same village that set the temperature records also burned down. It could have been any small town – or urban area.

With climate change in sharper focus, will there be the same type of momentum toward addressing it? Or will we forget the harsh lesson the Lytton fire could have taught us?

Its response to the Interior wildfire season gives us little reason to believe the provincial government will pay attention, leaving it up to communities and individuals to carry the torch.

Time to get to work.

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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 Pattison Media.