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June 2nd, 2021

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Trudeau and team become unintelligible

In the wake of the tragic discovery at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Justin Trudeau and his cabinet ministers have become incomprehensible when faced with straightforward questions about the facts and their failure to act.

Here are their answers, to simple questions, in their own words.

CPAC. MondayMay 31 - Prime Minister Trudeau being asked why his government isn’t acting sooner:

Ryan Tumilty, National Post: In the case of the Kamloops discovery, that discovery was funded by the provincial government. Didn’t you have a responsibility to act on this sooner than now?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: There are many, many different things to act on. We have been working with many governments, particularly the government of BC, which has been a real leader in reconciliation. I fear, but also hope, that we will see similar actions from other governments across the country that will lead to discoveries of even further tragedies… But as you point out Ryan there are many, many different things we need to be working on.

CPAC. MondayMay 31 - Prime Minister Trudeau being asked why his government won't’ stop fighting indigenous children in court:

David Akin, Global: [The federal government is] fighting in court against the St. Anne’s Residential School survivors. Fighting in court to overturn the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Fighting in court about Jordan’s principle… Why is the federal government doing this? Why not just drop these lawsuits; write a cheque as a sign of good faith that Canada is interested in reconciliation?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: ... Should someone who went to a day school for a few days in a few months or a year be compensated to the exact same amount as someone who was in a traumatic situation over many many years where they were taken from their families and had a very different experience? Right now the Human Rights Tribunal says that everyone should get the same amount. We don’t know that that’s entirely fair. We recognize that there are different levels of trauma and some people deserve much more compensation than others.

CTV Powerplay. MondayMay 31 - Minister Miller being asked about fighting survivors of residential schools for compensation in court:

Evan Solomon: But you could just stop the challenge. It could be a sign to say we will not fight these children in court.

Minister of Indigenous Services, Marc Miller: Look, I think it would be, with respect, immensely, immensely lazy intellectually to suggest that a simple compensation process, however important it is, and we’ve said it’s important, will put an end to this.

CBC The Current. TuesdayJune 1 - Minister Bennet being asked about fighting survivors of residential schools in court:

Matt Galloway:What is the message that it sends to the families of kids that we’re learning about in the last couple of days who were buried in these unmarked graves in Kamloops when the government is still fighting the survivors of other residential schools in court?

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett:I think that the… what… this is a unique situation I that we feel um you know is different... because the survivors were paid and some and but they need the healing. This is about going forward in a good way and it is about making sure that all communities know that this will never happen again because they have control over the lives and the child and family services for their own community. That an auntie can come and look after the children if the mom needs a bit of help. Communities want the reforms because of this millennium scoop. And being able to think that settlers know how to look after children better is got to stop and that’s what we’re doing.

Children and their families deserve better.