Loss, Hope, and Where We Go from Here

As we head back into the B.C. legislature, this is a moment to identify a collective vision for our province after two years of disruption.

To chart the last two years is to name tragedy and trial, one after another. A global pandemic that isolated and infected us. A toxic drug crisis that claims more lives every day. Extreme weather event after extreme weather event: heat domes, wildfires, towns burned to the ground, floods, mudslides, snowstorms, cities underwater. Across the country, the graves of thousands of Indigenous children have been located at the sites of former residential “schools.” We have lost loved ones and we have lost livelihoods.

Day-to-day life is no longer predictable. Sending our children to school creates anxiety. Rent and groceries have become more expensive. It is a challenge to plan for the future when even next week seems uncertain. The loss and stress have taken a toll on our mental health.

We’re not only grieving what we’ve lost, what has passed: we are grieving the future we had hoped for. Yet, even during these challenges, we have seen many reasons for hope.

The majority of us got vaccinated, we wore masks, and we stayed home when we were sick. We isolated ourselves from our loved ones because we cared about their health above our own. Within the restrictions, we found ways to celebrate lives and marriages, births and graduations.

We checked on our neighbours during the heat dome. We provided shelter to those whose homes had burned down due to the wildfires. During the flooding, we chartered helicopters to fly homemade food to those stranded on the highway. Hundreds sandbagged a pumphouse for hours in the dead of night. We rescued livestock when floodwaters were rising higher than houses.

We stayed with our friends while they were using to make sure they were safe. We carried naloxone. We made the names and faces and histories of those who we’ve lost known, to make them more than a number.

We left shoes, teddy bears and letters full of love in memory of Indigenous children murdered in residential “schools.” We wore orange shirts in recognition of our past and our present. We talked to the people around us about racism, about generational trauma and reconciliation. We had hard conversations about the legacy of our province.

These actions demonstrate our capacity to work together. We can take this opportunity to shape a society that centres itself in compassion for each other. To do that, political leaders need to provide a clear vision of where we want to get to together, and we need to be honest about how we can get there.

My vision for our province is one in which people’s needs are met and everyone can reach their full potential; where communities are vibrant, safe, connected and resilient; where we protect the natural systems that we depend on for our health and well-being; and our government, political systems and institutions are trusted.

In the legislature, to make this vision a reality, we start with a focus on health and well-being. We invest in truly meeting people’s needs and then we measure outcomes. For example, for people to achieve their full potential, their basic needs must be met, and this is not possible for many during a housing crisis. We can address this by, among other things, working with local governments on zoning requirements, and through investing in non-market housing initiatives, including co-operatives and not-for-profit housing. There must be an assurance that housing is truly affordable. For those struggling with homelessness, we invest in a housing-first, human rights-based approach. We need policy mechanisms that address the root causes of the housing crisis.

For vibrant, safe, connected and resilient communities, we can use public health as the lens through which policies are made. In this way, we start by prioritizing longitudinal care and family doctors, who are critical to long-term health of people and our health-care system. Also, mental health must be a part of our health-care system. We can provide access to psychologists and regulated counsellors when people need them. We focus these programs in the areas of highest need: those experiencing other intersections of marginalization.

A regulated safe supply of drugs is an essential step in addressing the toll of death and injury from the toxic drugs in our province. The safe supply can be distributed through community hubs with accessible treatment options. We must commit to treating all people with dignity.

In our effort to protect the natural systems that we depend on for our health and well-being, we must focus on community-based emergency preparedness and recognize that it is long past time to end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. Public investments should go towards locally generated clean energy projects in communities across B.C. The land should be one of our best defenses against worsening floods, droughts and fires, and to ensure this is the case, we must invest in Indigenous-led restoration and conservation programs and community resiliency initiatives. Old growth should be recognized for its carbon capturing and biodiversity protection, and protected, not logged. We are long overdue for species-at-risk legislation and improved mechanisms to hold government accountable to its climate commitments.

Earning the trust of the public must be built into the way we approach governance in this province, and that starts with transparency and accountability, and a consistent effort to ensure that government is putting service to citizens at the centre of its work. To create this level of change, the B.C. legislature must be a place of collaboration, accountability and good governance.

Passing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act was not an end point, it was the beginning of orienting government decision-making to be in accordance with the declaration. An essential step to achieve this is an Indigenous-led DRIPA secretariat that holds government to account on the path of reconciliation.

This is by no means a comprehensive plan, and it is surely flawed, but it moves us towards a vision for a future that gives me hope. We do not have all of the answers, indeed nobody does, which is why the burden of governance must be shared, especially in these times of overlapping crises. If we can agree on the destination, I know we can arrive there, but only if we work together.