Justin Trudeau has promised to implement a national inquiry into the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, provide clean drinking water to indigenous communities, and honour treaties, among a long list of other promises to the indigenous community.
However, given the Liberal’s track record, many remain skeptical.
Following the Liberals’ landslide victory Monday night, Excalibur went digging into York’s political science department to figure out what the results mean.
Gabrielle Slowey, director, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, expressed concerns regarding murdered and missing indigenous women.
As one of the key promises made by Trudeau, she believes a national inquiry into the murders and disappearances is important for all Canadians, regardless of their status in the country.
Despite the NDP’s popularity among indigenous peoples in western provinces, Slowey believes indigenous Liberal candidates like Jody Raybould-Wilson in British Columbia will be a strong voice for indigenous people.
She believes the newly-elected Liberal government has “a lot of potential” to improve itsrelations with indigenous people.
Political economy professor Greg Albo finds the Liberal majority and the consequent anti-Harper vote “unexpected.”
He says it’s clear that the NDP attempted to shift to the centre. Previous attempts to do so included Olivia Chow’s campaign for mayor and Kathleen Wynne’s victory over Andrea Horwath, provincial NDP candidate.
The NDP’s collapse was particularly devastating in Toronto, with a few key policy positions outflanked by the Liberal party.
However, Albo is skeptical of the change promised by the Trudeau government in Ontario, predicting this could just be “neoliberalism dressed in less abrasive garb.”
Others were surprised the Conservatives retained the number of seats they did.
Jessa McLean, president, Amnesty International at York, says 5.5 million Canadians voted to maintain the status quo, with 5.5 million being the number of Conservative voters.
“As a whole, we did not reject the racist, xenophobic, and patriarchal attitudes expressed during this election and over the past 10 years,” she says.
It’s troubling to see 99 seats under the Conservatives, says McLean, in light of the party’s poor record in terms of indigenous rights, environmental protection, women’s issues, and government spending.
Although McLean chides Canadians for being selfish at the polling booths, she hopes most voters were swayed by appeals to their wallets as opposed to wedge issues like the niqab.
Palak Palak, Contributor
Featured images courtesy of Michael Zusev
