THUNDER BAY -- Bob Rae believes the inquest into the deaths of seven youth from remote First Nations attending high school in Thunder Bay will have implications across Canada.
The former NDP premier of Ontario and federal Liberal interim leader made the comments prior to a lecture at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Law School on Monday regarding the future of law regarding First Nations and Indigenous people.
“What Thunder Bay has been facing and what First Nations kids who have been living in Thunder Bay are facing is matched by what’s happening in virtually every city across the country,” Rae said.
“So the inquest that’s happening here is an exceptionally important one. I certainly hope there will be strong recommendations coming out of it that can begin a discussion of how we can improve services and be sure that people’s needs are being addressed in a way that all of us think needs to happen in the 21st Century.”
Although Rae wouldn’t risk interfering in the inquest halfway through by making public statements on its outcomes, he’s eager to see its conclusions on the care, attention and supervision of the students coming to the city from remote communities.
He foresees the inquest’s findings will play a role in the way Canada and Ontario apply the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations.
“I think the time where you could fund Aboriginal schools at 60 or 70 per cent per capita of what you get in non-Aboriginal schools has got to be over,” Rae said, pointing out the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is expected to rule on the issue of on-reserve child service funding parity in the coming days.
“We have got to make sure the facilities are available and that where people are drawn together in Sioux Lookout or Thunder Bay or somewhere else that we've got the services that are at a level that are equal to the services that are provided to everybody else.
“That’s an essential provision of what it means to be a Canadian today and that’s part of what Justice (Murray) Sinclair has been talking about in his report.”
