Opinion: Wab Kinew’s development dreams threaten our people’s way of life – The Globe and Mail
Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Mathais Colomb Cree Nation and the author of Life in the City of Dirty Water – A Memoir Of Healing.
I respect Wabanakwut Kinew and the Manitoba NDP government that he has formed; they are light-years ahead of any other provincial or territorial governments in these lands they call Canada. I understand the political game. It is, however, still jarring and triggering to hear a Neechi (fellow Indigenous person), one I grew up with, promoting an energy and trade corridor to a new port in Hudson Bay during the climate crisis, as the Premier did recently.
This came at a moment when so many Indigenous peoples and Northern community members had been evacuated due to climate-change exacerbated fires. It’s staggering to see Mr. Kinew’s openness to entertain the critical mineral and energy resource export dreams of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and those showcased in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Bill C-5 – initiatives that violate our climate as well as our inherent and treaty rights as Indigenous peoples.
