Today it was announced that Canada's premiers universally support all 94 recommendations in the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's final report. They have vowed to enact these recommendations in their home provinces and have agreed to work together to explore the cases of tens of hundreds missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.
The full story is here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/premiers-commit-to-commission-recommendations-after-meeting-with-native-leaders-1.3152840
Any word from the government of the day on the TRC report or its recommendations yet? No. To be fair, Harper and his MPs have been very busy this past month. They were busy channeling their moral outrage at Tim Horton's for pulling Enbridge advertising from their in-store televisions. They were going to jail for violating the Canada Elections Act. They were avoiding the Climate Summit of the Americas in Toronto. They were flipping pancakes at the Calgary Stampede. They were comparing the Harper government to Jesus and claiming that CSIS knew about the Air India bombing but failed to act. They were releasing statements through the PMO saying that the global economy is fragile right now so we can't take risks on Justin Trudeau.
As a salty sea captain once told my students and I on a grade nine sailing trip, "Everything you do says everything about you". Absolutely right. So what do the actions of Harper and his ilk say about them? It says that they are not interested in making Canada a better place.
Is it too much to ask that our federal government govern? Address systemic racism? Protect the environment? Stand up for individual rights and freedoms? I don't think so. I hope that in 96 days, the majority of Canadians agree with me.