Reconciliation: Action needed instead of symbolism, says Jody Wilson-Raybould

Former minister of Justice and attorney general of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould called on all levels of government and industry to stop merely pursuing symbolic gestures towards First Nation reconciliation but to actively pursue meaningful change.

Wilson-Raybould said enabling Indigenous self-determination would support Indigenous peoples’ cultural, social, and economic well-being while giving nations, governments, and industry the certainty needed during this transitional time.

At the conference hosted by the Association for Mineral Exploration in Vancouver this week, Wilson-Raybould said that mining companies working in Indigenous territories have an opportunity to model decision-making based on Indigenous consent.

Wilson-Raybould said several developments were impacting Indigenous groups since she was expelled from caucus amid the SNC-Lavalin affair in 2019.

There has been a continued escalation around some major natural resource projects such as the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s hereditary chiefs’ denial of rights for the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline, for example, while new impact benefit agreements and other arrangements continued to be negotiated.