B.C. Today – Daily Report June 4, 2019 Quotation of the day “If anybody in the world wants to support salmon conservation, we encourage them to do so through a charity or otherwise, but if they decide they want to influence the outcome of a B.C. election, that’s wrong.” In an interview with BC Today, Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson says his private member’s bill ​ ​ ​ ​ on foreign funding is designed to close loopholes, not muzzle environmental dissent. Today in B.C. On the schedule The House is now in recess for the summer. MLAs are scheduled to return to the legislature on Monday, October 7. Committees this week The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services begins its public ​ consultations on Budget 2020 this week. The committee will accept written, audio and video ​ submissions as well as in-person and teleconference presentations at 15 public hearings throughout the rest of the month. The consultation process will wrap up on June 28. Horgan commits to ‘finding a path forward to end violence against Indigenous women and girls’ in wake of national inquiry’s final report After more than two years of hearings, the final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and ​ ​ Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) was officially released at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau yesterday. The 1,200-page report characterizes the thousands of Indigenous women who have been murdered or gone missing in recent decades as a “Canadian genocide” and makes 231 ​ recommendations to address “systemic racial and gendered human rights and Indigenous rights ​ violations and abuses” throughout Canadian society. “We recognize the enormous courage of the survivors and families who have brought us to this moment,” Premier John Horgan said in a statement. “It has taken immense courage and ​ ​ ​ ​ leadership to share the truth of the trauma that you, your families and your communities have experienced and continue to experience. In honour of the women, girls and two-spirit peoples who have been stolen and those who have survived, we are committed to learning from your stories, to taking action and to enacting change.” The B.C. government will review the report and its recommendations “in detail” and in tandem with ongoing work to integrate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into provincial law. “Dismantling the underlying and systemic issues that result in Indigenous women experiencing violence at a much higher rate than non-Indigenous women is fundamental to our government's work toward true and lasting reconciliation,” the premier said. “We are actively working in collaboration with Indigenous partners and communities to build relationships based on the inherent right to self-determination and we believe that this is an important part of addressing the conditions that result in violence.” The B.C. government made a submission to the national inquiry in December 2018. ​ ​ Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson took to Twitter to thank those “who stepped forward to share ​ ​ their experiences and trauma” with the inquiry panel. “Your courage will help British Columbia and Canada to move closer to meaningful ​ reconciliation,” he tweeted. “I also want to acknowledge those who suffered and could not speak ​ ​ — we must learn and honour your stories in an effort to move forward together.” Green Party Indigenous affairs spokesperson Adam Olsen, himself a member of the Tsartlip ​ ​ Nation, said the report challenges Canadians to take a long look in the mirror. “There may be a desire to downplay the result of this inquiry because it is difficult to hear these words,” he said in a statement. “The term genocide has been reserved for other people, in far away countries at another time. As elected officials we now face the strongest test of our leadership.” Olsen is “wary of colonial language that references developing a ‘path forward’ or ‘next steps’” to tackle the inquiry report’s recommendations. “Federal and provincial governments must immediately prioritize the inquiry’s recommendations,” he said. “People should not be asked for patience for their equality, safety, and survival.” Premier watch Premier John Horgan begins his “nine-day working visit” to France, the United Kingdom and ​ ​ ​ the Netherlands today. In France, Horgan will attend a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day at Juno Beach on June 6 before heading to the U.K. There he will meet with officials and business contacts, and tour sustainable architecture in London. In the Netherlands, Horgan will meet with the Canadian ambassador and representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and tour the Port of Rotterdam. The premier is scheduled to return to B.C. on June 14. Today’s events June 4 at 12:20 p.m. – Victoria ​ Education Minister Rob Fleming will join students, school district staff and community members ​ ​ to celebrate the grand opening of Quadra Elementary school's new accessible playground. June 4 at 6 p.m. – Burnaby ​ NDP MLA Janet Routledge (Burnaby North) will host Finance Minister and Deputy Premier ​ ​ Carole James at ‘Weekday Wind Down,’ a fundraising event at Personas Restaurant. ​ Topics of conversation ● On ‘Welfare Wednesday’ when social assistance cheques are issued, fatal overdoses spike by up to 40 per cent — data that has led various politicians, including Liberal mental health and addictions critic Jane Thornthwaite and Vancouncil city councillor ​ ​ Sarah Kirby-Yung, to push for changes to the monthly cheque schedule. ​ ○ However, in a new three-year study of almost 200 people who use drugs, ​ ​ University of British Columbia research scientist Dr. Lindsey Richardson found ​ ​ that changing cheque day can have unintended consequences. ○ “There was a real beneficial impact on substance use patterns,” she said of her findings. However, participants whose cheques were issued on an alternative schedule were “more likely to experience some drug-related harms, including perpetration of and exposure to violence, negative police interactions, health treatment interruption and overdose frequency.” ○ During the spring session, Thornthwaite introduced a private member’s bill that would have the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction study alternatives to the monthly cheque schedule. ● Nearly 80 per cent of British Columbians do not think the provincial government should be providing funding to private schools, according to a poll from Insights West. Almost 70 ​ ​ per cent oppose funding for “religious or faith-based schools” while two-thirds think secular private schools should also go without public funding. ○ Of the 817 British Columbians surveyed in mid to late May, only 10 per cent were aware that B.C.’s private schools are exempt from the province’s Human Rights Code when it comes to their treatment of employees. ● Vancouverites will have an opportunity to make suggestions about the upcoming ​ ​ modernization of the Royal B.C. Museum next week when the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture hosts a pair of community meetings in the city. ○ The consultation aims to gauge what British Columbians “expect a modernized ​ museum experience to be” and gather feedback “about how the museum could most effectively tell stories of B.C.'s communities and ... collaborate most productively” with them. ● The Ministry of Labour has launched a public engagement on B.C.’s workers' ​ ​ ​ compensation program as it looks to “shift shift the system to become more worker centred” and increase worker and employer confidence in it. The engagement period will run until July 19; stakeholders and members of the public can submit feedback by email, ​ ​ complete an online questionnaire or participate in one of 14 public hearings, starting in ​ ​ Surrey on June 14 and wrapping up in Terrace on July 19. News briefs - Governmental Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy John Dean Provincial Park in North Saanich was officially renamed ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱ Park ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (pronounced Tlay-will-nook), which translates to "place of refuge" in the language of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. B.C. Parks will update and add new signage that includes both names during the coming year. Students at ȽÁU,WELṈEW̱ Tribal School requested the name change to include the traditional name for the mountain in the park, which features prominently in local First Nations culture as a place that helped save people during the Great Flood thousands of years ago. Green Party MLA Adam Olsen (North Saanich and the Islands) championed the idea in the ​ ​ legislature. “By listening to the Indigenous youth in our communities with open hearts, we learn that reconciliation is about acknowledging our past and working together in a compassionate way through purposeful acts of kindness and inclusion that benefit us all," he said of the change. This is not the first B.C. park whose name has been altered to include local Indigenous names recently. Earlier this year, the Power River Watershed Protected Area on northern Vancouver Island was renamed the Hisnit River Watershed Protected Area. Hisnit is the traditional name for sockeye in the Che:k'tles7et'h' language. Last year, three provincial parks were renamed as part of reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples. Brooks Peninsula Park near Port Alice was renamed Mquqwin/Brooks Peninsula Park, Boya Lake Park in northwest B.C. was renamed Tā Ch'ilā Park and Roderick Haig-Brown Park near Kamloops was renamed Tsútswecw Provincial Park. Funding announcements ● New Westminster’s Seniors Services Society will use $500,000 from the Ministry of ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Mental Health and Addictions to expand its outreach activities, programs and ​ partnerships. ○ The funding will help the society promote mental health and addictions services ​ ​ alongside existing seniors' programs in private homes, seniors' centres and shelters, and build online resources to make it easier for B.C. seniors to connect to needed services. ● B.C.’s Food Network Hub program is making progress: five regions have now ​ ​ ​ ​ completed feasibility studies and business plans to explore opportunities to enhance sustainable growth and innovation in the processing, packaging and marketing of B.C.