Since the Doug Ford…

Since the Doug Ford administration has backed away from its plans to develop the Green Belt amidst so much and such sustained public backlash, it seems that this is just another idea meant to clear the way for those same private developers. But they're hoping that this one will go unnoticed and won't garner as much public attention this time?

The Ontario Archaeological Society has already issued a statement about the ways that this proposal will leave archaeological and other cultural heritage sites vulnerable to disturbance and destruction. Several First Nations have already sent letters saying that this is moving in exactly the opposite direction of many calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation report. I stand with them.

If we are committed to reconciliation, as we claim to be, we must demand protection for unmarked graves, burial grounds, Ancestor burials, and all the other archaeological sites that will inform our cultural heritage collectively. This proposal does not do that.

The danger to previously unknown or unidentified archaeological sites is pretty obvious. If private developers are not required to call for a licensed archaeological consultant to perform an archaeological survey of an acquired property lot, then we won't know what we don't know. But we don't have any unmarked graves that went unknown or unidentified until shamefully recently in this country, do we?

What seems even worse is the way already established archaeological excavation sites and burial site investigations are at risk of having their protections stripped. We must ensure sufficient protections for these lands. We cannot keep claiming we care about reconciliation, as it seems convenient, by practicing slacktivism like spouting land acknowledgements or posting numbers representing estimated death tolls on social media or sticking "Every Child Matters" bumper stickers on vehicles. We must honour the treaties and support our First Nations in getting the closure and healing they need.

The OAS and First Nations are telling us, clearly, that this proposal does not address those protections sufficiently, so we must do better.