Caroline Elliott writes for National Post:
A little more than 50 years ago, members of B.C.’s NDP government gathered in the provincial capital to introduce the British Columbia Day Act, creating a statutory holiday to celebrate the province and its history. Now, B.C.’s current NDP government is negotiating a treaty that would give parts of that same capital away.
In 1974, NDP MLAs rose in the Legislature to advocate for the adoption of B.C. Day, saying it would enable British Columbians to “remember the great people who have helped in making this country what it is.” They encouraged citizens to “get together and celebrate the origin and the history of our province.”
These displays of provincial pride are a far cry from B.C.’s NDP government of today. In the very same Legislature where her predecessors called upon British Columbians to honour their past, one NDP MLA came under fire last year for using the terms “settler,” “colonizer” and “uninvited guest” to refer to non-Indigenous British Columbians. Premier David Eby himself has referred to British Columbia’s “original colonial mistake,” while government guidelines suggested the phrase “British Columbians” is exclusionary.
Read the full article at National Post: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/caroline-elliott-b-c-s-odious-plan-to-give-public-property-in-victoria-to-indigenous-groups