Report shows commissioner planned to endorse public inquiry into systemic racism against Indigenous peoples.
For the last two years, Indigenous leaders in New Brunswick have steadfastly called on the provincial government to launch a public inquiry into systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in criminal justice and policing.
Premier Blaine Higgs has just as steadfastly refused to do so, saying there are recommendations from other reviews that could address some issues.
Manju Varma, New Brunswick’s commissioner on systemic racism, was poised to publicly call on the government to launch an inquiry this past spring.
But Varma’s plan to release a mid-term report, which urged the government to call a public inquiry, came to a halt after an April 13 meeting with Higgs and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn.
Chiefs say commissioner isn’t independent
That has prompted the chiefs of nine Mi’kmaw communities in New Brunswick to say they will no longer participate in the commissioner’s process.
On Monday, the chiefs released a statement saying the process isn’t independent from the provincial government and alleging the government suppressed Varma’s report.
“We need that inquiry,” Natoaganeg First Nation Chief George Ginnish, who also co-chairs Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., or MTI, a non-profit made up of the nine Mi’kmaw communities, said in an interview with CBC.
“That’s got to happen. Regardless of what government thinks, it has to happen or we’re not going to be satisfied that our reality is being given the attention that it deserves, and that there will be change that will give us that hope.”
They join the six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation, who had declined to participate in the systemic racism commissioner’s work, describing it as an “ill-equipped and ineffective alternative to an inquiry.”
In a statement, Varma said the report was meant to be a draft and only begins to reflect observations from some meetings she’s had with organizations and individuals.
