Rustad and Eby

The federal government has been “absent” and failing to live up to commitments to First Nations on housing and clean water, and a B.C. Conservative government would fix the problems, then send Ottawa the bill, Leader John Rustad said Monday. …He has previously pledged to repeal B.C. legislation adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and his party said in a release it would instead honour the declaration “as it was intended,” with laws advancing economic reconciliation and Indigenous autonomy. …Grand Chief Stewart Phillip with the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said that Rustad’s remarks on Truth and Reconciliation Day were “astonishingly reprehensible.” Phillip said “We find it to be very counterproductive, very negative and quite frankly racist to make such an announcement, such an ambiguous announcement on Reconciliation Day.” …Eby didn’t speak during the Orange Shirt event at the University of BC.