I hope for a future where society genuinely values the voices and knowledge of those who have historically been undervalued and silenced. The current system of greed, supported by privileged people in developed nations and wealthy corporations, has degraded ecosystems in a way that negatively impacts communities made up of BIPOC people. This is called environmental racism and it is clearly unjust.
A way to support this vision of a more just future would be to vote for BIPOC candidates running in municipal, provincial, and federal elections (if they are committed to improving the health of ecosystems and/or people). Another intervention would be to conduct all operations that can have consequential impacts on the environment (e.g., resource extraction projects, energy project, conservation projects) to be made in full partnership with the Indigenous communities whose land would be affected by these projects. Today in Canada, the process of consulting Indigenous people is required for environmental projects, but it is flawed. We should not strive to merely consult these groups of people whose land we have stolen, instead we should be asking them for permission to conduct the economic activities we wish to pursue. We need a societal shift where Indigenous people are given back the rights to their land. Only then can we truly live in line with our "aspirations" of "reconciliation".
Hi Sarah,