I envision a positive future where we have procedural processes, that allow everyone to be considered equal and have a say in what happens, especially when it impacts them. Equality means a lot to me as a woman of colour, because I either personally have faced situations or heard from someone close, where they were treated unjustly, and to put it lightly, it is not a place anyone wants to be. One of the first things we learn as children are the saying “treat others the way you want to be treated”, put yourself in the shoes of the other person, and try to understand how they would feel. The otter reintroduction really got me thinking about how the First Nations people would have felt about the exclusivity. The reintroduction impacts them directly because a large number of First Nation communities live by the coast where the otters were reintroduced. They were never asked once about what they thought, in fact, they were not even told about them until they were already here, leaving nothing for discussion. They value their relationships and connecting with the land through many activities such as going out to fish, collecting shellfish, and eating sea urchins Due to the people who decided to reintroduce the otters, these relationships were all destroyed in a very small time period. They went from having a sacred relationship with their boats, and the fish that they captured to being limited, or not having one at all. Personally, I think it is very important to speak up when you see someone not being treated as you would want to be treated. This might not be in the favour of Indigenous people right now, but we need to start somewhere. We need to address inequality of all types, I believe that if you can’t stand up for the right thing during a smaller-scaled situation, how will you gather the courage to do so when the situation is quite graver? Perhaps some laws need to be made that ensure that all individuals that will be impacted by a large change need to be included in the discussion surrounding it.
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Thank you for sharing your personal story regarding equality. I think equality and having empathy are certainly needed in order to ensure that the people impacted by major decisions like this are being considered thoroughly.
Great post! Like you say, we need to address inequality of all types, whether it is racism, economic inequality or climate injustice. I think the first step to address this, is creating a space of awareness of the problem and then find a critical mass of people who can make change happen. What is your opinion about this, how can we get the ball rolling?
Hi Gamen, I love that you used the analogy treat others how you want to be treated. The fundamentals that we grew up on as children, are unfortunately so easily lost or cast aside in adulthood. We are lacking basic compassion for others, especially those that have been wronged so horrifically in the past. I definitely agree there needs to be more legislation that allows not just stakeholders to be consulted in decision making but affected parties as well. Moreover, voices need not just be heard, but valued as well.