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Today in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commemorated National Aboriginal Day with a series of announcements, the first being a name change for June 21, which will officially be re-named National Indigenous Peoples Day in the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, he said.
The Prime Minister also acknowledged “not everyone will be celebrating” the July 1st commemoration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1867.
“In the spirit of reconciliation it is important to understand why. That is the spirit that brings us together here today. For too long First Nations, Inuit and the Métis nation have been ignored in the decision-making of this country while having their rights denied, Trudeau said. “My friends, that is changing.”
He reiterated that “no relationship is more important” to Canada than the relationship with the Indigenous peoples. He said he understands that in order to build renewed relationships “we have to do things differently.”
After listing some of Canada’s achievements in this regard—including the removal of 20 boil water advisories in Indigenous communities and building or upgrading 129 schools—Trudeau said there is more to do.
“It took 400 years to create these problems. They will take time to solve.”
He then announced that the building at 100 Wellington Street in the National Capital Region, a former U.S. Embassy building, would be converted to a space for Indigenous people, and which Indigenous peoples would be called on to imagine, plan and build in partnership with Ottawa.
“We want you to decide how to best to use it in order to serve your communities. Until now, there hasn’t been a space within our parliamentary precinct dedicated to and for Indigenous peoples. That changes today.”
He said it hoped that the historic building will be a “powerful symbol of the foundational role of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s history, as well as our close relationship towards our shared future.
“Look at where we are. Across from the Peace Tower, in front of the eternal flame at the very heart of our country’s seat of government. Think about it. Tourists from every corner of the world will come here, see this building and reflect on what Canada has done, or reflect also, I hope, on the role that they have in their own country around advancing the rights and recognition of Indigenous peoples around the world.”
It will be a concrete reminder that at the heart of every decision “we must remember our partnership and that the path forward goes hand in hand with the Indigenous peoples of this land.”
Trudeau also announced that the building that houses the Prime Minister offices, known currently as Langevin Block, will be now known as simply The Office of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council.
“We’ve heard from you, from the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) and from many Indigenous communities over the past year that there is a deep pain in knowingi that that building carries a name so closely associated with the “horror of residential schools.”
Hector-Louis Langevin, a Father of Confederation, was a key architect of creating residential schools, telling Parliament that children must be separated from their parents while they are taught.
“If you leave them in the family they may know how to read and write, but they will remain savages, whereas by separating them in the way proposed, they acquire the habits and tastes…of civilized people.” (Source: [Grant, Agnes. 1996. No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Winnipeg: Pemmican p. 65])
Trudeau said keeping that name on the Prime Minister’s office is “inconsistent with the values of our government and it’s inconsistent with our vision of a strong partnership with Indigenous people in Canada,” said Trudeau.