Tsilhqot'in Nation

A British Columbia First Nation that won a landmark case establishing rights and title to its territory says ongoing colonialism and systemic racism have hindered its COVID-19 response.

Chiefs who gathered in New Westminster, B.C., to commemorate an Indigenous leader's wrongful trial and execution 154 years ago say they see signs of reconciliation from the federal government but their struggle for recognition continues in the courts.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett said yesterday in the House of Commons, that Trudeau's exoneration was a step in a longer process of reconciliation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered an historic apology on Monday in the House of Commons, more than 150 years in the making, exonerating six chiefs from the Tsilhqot'in Nation who were unjustly killed by a colonial government in British Columbia in 1864.

As Sally Aitken and her husband drove along Highway 20, they saw nothing overly dramatic: light smoke, burned trees. Then they suddenly found themselves in the middle of an intense blaze.