Editor:
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend the Sechelt council meeting of the same date, having attended dozens of council meetings over the last decade or so, one generally knows what to expect after reading the agenda and following the local news. What evolved however was in my opinion one of the most tragic yet necessary confrontations of our troubled local mayor that one could ever wish to see. Decades of hard work from past mayors and councils investing in reconciliation with our neighbours, friends and partners the shíshálh Nation, have been seen to be thrown on the rocks by the callous actions and words of this mayor.
Doubling down on his actions, he repeatedly mumbled weak excuses and platitudes, never taking responsibility, he did not offer an apology. It is questionable enough to bring a widely panned revisionist First Nations history book to our municipal hall, talking it up with staff. To then stand against a unified council by refusing to take a public stand against revisionist First Nation history, was beyond the pale.
Each council member poured their heart out and displayed their pain and dismay, speaking eloquently while defending the honour of the shíshálh people, sadly the mayor did not. The meeting ended with a young First Nations women looking directly into the eyes of the mayor, tears streaming down her cheeks, speaking her truth of this hurt brought to her people.
To me, watching, I could not help but feel that I was witnessing the local dying vestiges of a failed colonial past, a disgrace to our community. A famous passage spoken in the British Parliament comes to mind spoken by none other than Oliver Cromwell. “It is not fit that you should sit here any longer. You have sat here too long for any good that you have been doing lately...in the name of God go.”
Neil Edmunds
Sechelt
