For those who lived through BC’s legendary War in the Woods nearly 30 years ago at Clayoquot Sound, the blockades and mass arrests at Fairy Creek are indeed a déjà vu experience. The question is: Why is this still going on? Why is history repeating itself while the world burns, oceans rise and irreplaceable ancient forests disappear? What will it take to change the script?

Skyler Williams is dangerous in the eyes of the state because he is politically active; because he refuses the shackles of shame and poverty; because he speaks and refuses to be silenced. He is seen as dangerous because he questions the government in court, challenging development on the traditional land of the Haudenosaunee people with injunctions and peaceful resistance.

The Canadian Prairies remain a sprawling example of disproportionate incarceration rates and profoundly troubling conditions for inmates—made only worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, a vast enclave of organizations have found solidarity under the banner of the Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta Abolition Coalition, which aims to address and correct the abuses and systemic racism that are widespread in these provinces’ justice systems.

The 44th federal election is well underway, and Canadians and Indigenous peoples alike are concerned about the many issues contributing to the genocide of Indigenous peoples. In fact, the majority of Canadians said that reconciliation with Indigenous peoples will influence their vote this election. So, where is the urgent action on genocide in the federal party platforms?

Those who want to save these statues in the ostensible name of history are the same people lighting the planet on fire, refusing to acknowledge climate change, refusing to honour the spirit of the treaties, and refusing to fund history and the humanities in the first place. They are not protectors of “History.” On the contrary, they are the hand-maidens of its demise.

The calls to cancel Canada Day continue to grow louder after hundreds of Indigenous children were found in unmarked graves near former Indian residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. A national day of mourning and collective reflection in honour of these children is far more fitting than the usual fireworks and parades which celebrate a country founded on genocide, writes Pam Palmater.

Today, things are changing as marginalized groups including Indigenous peoples fight for rights, recognition and justice. There is and will continue to be a backlash against them and their work, but the struggle continues. That work will include rethinking our history and tearing down the symbols of oppression and orthodoxy that represent, even glorify, past wrongs and underwrite current ones.

It is one thing to recognize our society as having genocidal roots in the distant past. But the reality of Indigenous genocide, in particular children kidnapped and killed in the manufactories of murder otherwise known as Indian Residential Schools, confronts us today, and what we see in the here and now is the ongoing genocide of Indigenous people and cultures.

Tamara Starblanket is a Nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) from Ahtahkakoop First Nation. She holds a Master of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan, and an LLB from the University of British Columbia. Here, she is interviewed by Aziz Choudry, a writer and academic based in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Canada’s history of genocide, the failures of reconciliation, and the imperative of decolonization.

Canada’s continued denial of the basic human rights of Indigenous peoples is written right into budget 2021, a document that clearly falls well short on addressing this country’s ongoing genocide crisis. How many more Indigenous women and girls need to go missing before the federal government addresses this historic crime for what it is—genocide—and takes the nationwide urgent action that is needed to end it?