The @ryanjespersen show asked me to comment on Jason Kenney’s hiring of Paul Bunner, Stephen Harper’s former speech writer, in light of Bunner’s belief that the residential schools were not an instrument of cultural genocide. 1/n #abpoli #cdnpoli @abndpcaucus @APTN
My answer: Kenney has surrounded himself with “think-alikes.” He and Harper come from the same political school, which is essentially assimilationist. 2/n
If Jason Kenney had hired a holocaust denier as a speech writer, would we doubt the sincerity of Kenney's commitment to fighting anti-semitism? I think we would. 3/n @CBCNews @globeandmail #cdnpoli
So, when he hires a speechwriter who believes that the residential school history is a hoax, and that Canada's history is one of 'peace and pluralism' we must question the Premier's commitment to reconciliation and decolonization. 4/n
But we don't have to speculate. Look at the laws and regulations that the UCP govt is bringing forward: (1) Bill 1, which clearly seeks to repress Indigenous resistance to extractive resource projects along with solidarity actions by settler allies; 5/n
(2) the motion to create a voluntary rural police force that will likely deputize the white landowners who treat Indigenous persons as presumed trespassers and criminals (while relaxing gun regulations); 6/n
(3) consideration of the plan to dump effluent from the tailings ponds into the Athabasca River and suspension of environmental monitoring of oil sands pollution, despite known harms to downstream Indigenous communities of toxins from the industry; 7/n
(4) opening up the eastern slopes of the Rockies to coal mining without Indigenous consultation. 8/n
I'm sure that others can add to this list. Does this look like a government that takes seriously reconciliation or decolonization? 9/9
