In order to reach out to Indigenous peoples, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade is committed to making September 30, National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, a public holiday in Quebec as it already is at the federal level.
“It would send a very strong message of a real desire to move towards this reconciliation that we need so much politically,” said Ms. Anglade, passing through Montreal on Friday.
Having a statutory holiday in Quebec would “recognize the significance” of what happened at residential schools for Indigenous people and pay tribute to survivors. In September 2021, Prime Minister François Legault closed the door to this request.
If the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) is brought to power, it also undertakes to implement Joyce’s principle within the first 100 days of a possible mandate. The latter aims “to guarantee to all Aboriginal people the right of equitable access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services”.
It was developed by the Council of the Atikamekw Nation, after the death of Joyce Echaquan in September 2020 at the Joliette hospital, under racist insults from a nurse.
Ms. Anglade pointed out that she will be going to Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, on Sunday. With her candidate Tunu Napartuk, former mayor of the city, she will meet the Inuit communities.
Further details will follow.
To see in video