No land acknowledgements in Conservative campaign
The Conservative Party has still not yet released its full platform, so it remains unclear how a Scheer government would approach the relationship.
So far, the Conservatives have been the only major political party that has not made Indigenous land acknowledgements during campaign events.
The practice of politicians making a statement at the beginning of a campaign or policy event to acknowledge that the event is taking place on unceded traditional Indigenous territory has become increasingly common since the 2015 release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report on residential schools.
"I can assure you that a Conservative government will treat Indigenous communities with the respect that they deserve," Scheer told CBC News.
When questioned, Scheer would not commit to the practice of acknowledging unceded territory. He said that a Conservative government would "uphold treaty rights" and address issues faced by Indigenous people on and off reserve.
Bellegarde said that's not good quite enough.
"By not making any land acknowledgement, he's really denying the history of Canada," Bellegarde said. "I think that does send a message and that does need to be improved upon."
Removal of controversial statues revisited
On the campaign trail, Scheer also signalled he wouldn't support the trend of removing statues of prominent Canadian historical figures like John A. Macdonald — a key architect of the residential school system — to acknowledge the racism of their actions.
During a campaign stop in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding during the first days of the campaign, Scheer told a supporter he was against statue removals and that history shouldn't be rewritten...……….. MUCH MORE in the link
