It’s been five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, after years of work, released their report along with 94 Calls To Action for Canadians.

Earlier this month, the New Brunswick provincial government announced an All Parties Working Group on Truth and Reconcilliation. The group was to be co-chaired by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn and Regional Chief Roger Augustine, and serve as, “an accountability body that provides a forum for meaningful and culturally relevant engagement,” according to Minister Dunn.

Meanwhile, there has also been a strong push in New Brunswick for an inquiry into systemic racism in the justice system, after the deaths of two Aboriginal people—Rodney Levi and Chantal Moore—at the hands of police.

The Higgs government has repeatedly refused this call, and did so again last week.

On opposition day in the legislature, Liberal MLA Lisa Harris put forward a motion calling for an inquiry. Before it was voted on, that motion was gutted by Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Arlene Dunn, removing the actual call for an inquiry.

This prompted Chief Ross Perley, Chief Rebecca Knockwood, and Regional Vice-Chief Roger Augustine to announce their withdrawal from the working group this past Wednesday. The chiefs say that Minister Dunn’s amendments to Harris’s motion referenced the work of the All Parties Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation. That working group, which the Chiefs say is “long overdue”, is intended to address the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “it is not tasked with looking into systemic racism in New Brunswick, nor is it equipped to do so,” says a joint release from the chiefs.

I spoke with Fort Folly First Nation Chief Rebecca Knockwood to find out more.

TRANSCRIPT:

ERICA BUTLER:
Chief Rebecca Knockwood, thanks for joining us.

REBECCA KNOCKWOOD:
Thank you.

EB:
So you have released a news release today talking about not participating in the All Parties Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation that was announced by the province on December 3. Can you tell us a bit about what went into that decision?

RK:
Sure. We always hope, the chiefs always hoped to be able to work effectively with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, this time around, it’s Minister Arlene Dunn. And there were a few reasons why it became clear this wouldn’t be possible right now.

Our initial meetings with the minister showed that she continued to reiterate the views of the government, rather than listen and seek to understand where we were coming from. And also their lack of support, specifically the government ministers’ lack of support for an inquiry which all the Chiefs in New Brunswick have clearly indicated the need for.

We were afraid the government was using the working group, which was meant to deal with the TRC and the legacy of residential schools, as a substitute for an inquiry and an action on systemic racism in the justice system. These are separate issues, and they need to be dealt with separately.

EB:
So the feeling is that that the Working Group was, as you say, being used as a substitute. That Premier Higgs is saying, well, we don’t need an inquiry, a formal inquiry, because we’re reaching out in this other way.

RK:
Right. And Lisa Harris, she’s the liberal MLA from up north who put that motion, the opposition motion. She laid that in front of the legislature and it was voted on. And as you know, Jake Stewart, who is PC and the former Aboriginal Affairs Minister voted against it, as well as the Liberals and the Greens and the People’s Alliance. So, I mean, that right there goes to show us that Minister Dunn didn’t want to deal with us. Her approach suggests, I felt, that she feels she knows better than First Nations what First Nations need themselves. It’s the continuation of the paternalistic attitude which helped create residential schools in the first place.

EB:
Right, so the idea being that for something that’s called an All Parties Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation to work, it it should be First Nations led.

RK:
Right. But it wasn’t.

EB:
Now, you, in conjunction with the other chiefs, are going to be doing something in place of this working group. What have you got planned?

RK:
Well, on the new process going forward, as you know, there are Calls to Action for other areas of the society, not just the provincial government departments, examples like business, churches, universities, healthcare care providers, the legal profession, the media, stuff like that. But we’ve already been working with some of these groups already. And we will work to identify other groups and organizations, and see how we can work together to implement the Calls. And if the province shows that they are ready to approach this in the spirit of partnership it requires, with some humility and willingness to listen and act on our concerns, we will look at sitting down with them.

EB:
So you’re saying for the past five years, you have been already working on a bunch of this. And, working towards hopefully implementing these Calls to Actions. And so it will now become a bit more of a formal process.

RK:
Right. And it will become more specifically First Nations led, instead of government led.

EB:
I see. Well, we look forward to this. I mean, I know speaking from CHMA’s perspective, we have work to do here at the radio station as well. So I hope this is the first of many more conversations that we end up having on the radio about this.

RK:
Yes, for sure. For sure. I look forward to discussing more with you.

EB:
Now before I before I let you go, is there anything that you know other listeners in Sackville should know about how they should be participating? Or what they should be paying attention to as this moves forward?

RK:
I would just say just watch the media. And we have a Facebook group. Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn (MTI) has a Facebook group that they can join as well to just watch our updates on there.

EB:
Okay. So we’ve got to pay attention.

RK:
We’re always opening to listening to you people as well, because I mean, we are all treaty people. We need to all work together.

EB:
Thanks so much for your time for Rebecca.

RK:
Thanks very much, Erica.