Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long (Image: Danielle McCreadie)
Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long says the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a Kamloops residential school is ‘a wake-up call’ for Canadians.
Long voted in favour of an opposition motion calling on his Liberal government to drop its court cases against residential school survivors.
“This goes beyond politics, or economics, or partisanship,” Long said. “This is what needs to be addressed by leaders in our country. It’s about being true, and just. We talk often about truth and reconciliation, well we can’t have reconciliation until as a country we accept the truth and admit the truth.”
The NDP motion passed Monday by a vote of 271-0, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet abstaining from the vote.
Long says though the non-binding motion can’t force th Trudeau government to drop its court cases, he plans to keep pushing from within the party.
“We need to avail enough funding on a First Nation’s-led inquiry with respect to offering every assistance we can to make sure the grounds around every residential school is combed-through, and we recover every body around every residential school in Canada,” Long said.
Though Long says he was aware of the history of residential schools and the documented history of abuse against Indigenous children, he was spurred to action following the discovery in Kamloops.
“Call it a George Floyd moment for Canada, where I think people were just shocked at the atrocities that we committed as a country,” Long said.
“I’m sickened by it, I’m horrified by it, and I’ve been awakened by it.”
Moving forward, Long wants the government to address more of the 94 calls to action identified by the Truth and Reconciliation committee to help speed up the process of reconciliation.
“We need to move quicker, we need to act more decisively,” Long said. “This is about justice, and about doing the right thing.
“And I’m certainly going to do everything I can through my vantage point of Saint John-Rothesay to speak loud, to speak clearly: as a government we need to move, and we need to move now.”
