Indigenous Justice and Human Rights in Canada was one of the main topics of discussion yesterday on Day 3 of the NDP convention in Hamilton, Ontario.

Member of Parliament Leah Gazan, along with two other Indigenous panel members, discussed what they called hard-to-hear truths, the ongoing genocide of Indigenous people in Canada, and the importance of justice.

“We need to all work together to achieve that justice, because there will never be reconciliation in this country in the absence of justice,” she stated. She also stated that the Liberal government needs to implement more calls to actin from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  “We need to push this Liberal government, who acknowledge an ongoing genocide, but watched us continued to be murdered and missing on the streets. New Democrats, I am calling on you to continue to push the federal government and to send a very clear message: that they need to implement all 231 calls to action.”

Blake Desjarlais, Alberta’s only Indigenous MP, stated that rather than fight greedy entities that make Indigenous people poor, Conservative governments across the country would rather attack children’s gender identity rights in schools.

“We fight the powerful. We fight those who would rather us be silent, when our opponents, the conservatives, would rather punch down on vulnerable communities and today, against trans children. Shame on them.”

A resolution about responding to the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, if resolved, would reverse the Liberal government’s $150 million cut to women’s shelters and allow the NDP to invest in a Red Dress Alert system. It was carried unanimously.