My Little Corner of Canada, June 5

When the Qikiqtani Inuit Association first approached me more than a year ago about establishing a scholarship under my name, I readily agreed to the idea.

They asked me what field of learning I would want the scholarship to be for. It didn’t take me long to decide it would be for journalism. My working life has been mostly in politics and journalism.

Inuit who work in the media are following in the footsteps of pioneers like Mary Panigusiq, Annie Pudloo, Elijah Menarik, Jonah Kelly, Anne Hanson and many others.

Journalism is an honourable profession. It is one the pillars of a free and democratic society. Without a free press, there can be no justice and freedom.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission

After six years of hearings and thousands of witnesses from all parts of Canada, the TRC has released its report and recommendation. It confirms what aboriginal peoples of this country have known for decades: That Canada was committing cultural genocide against its original citizens through the residential schools system.

It was John A. Macdonald himself who declared that education must “kill the native in the child.”

How our political leaders and the country as a whole reacts to the report and its recommendations will reveal if Canada will move towards being a “just society” or not.

I wonder how Pierre Trudeau would react to the findings of the commission if he were alive today.

It will be interesting to hear what Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair, and Justin Trudeau have to say.

Jacques Parizeau

The death of Jacques Parizeau brings back memories of the political and constitutional battles that consumed Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. To me, they were exciting times.

I didn’t agree with his political objectives, but I had to respect him for his passion and commitment.

This Corner Quotes

“We are beaten, it is true. But by what, basically? By money and ethnic votes.”

— Jacques Parizeau, reacting to the narrow defeat of the separatist option in the 1995 Quebec referendum.