Federal Election: Rekmans running for the Green Party in Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes

By Rick Garrick

LEEDS-GRENVILLE-THOUSAND ISLANDS AND RIDEAU LAKES RIDING — Serpent River’s Lorraine Rekmans is running in her sixth federal election as a candidate for the Green Party of Canada, including her fourth campaign in the Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes riding.

“They have six principles, [including] respect for diversity, participatory democracy, ecological wisdom — that’s the one that called out to me because to me, it spoke to an understanding of my traditional teachings about being part of the ecosystem,” says Rekmans, a small business owner who lives in Kemptville, has worked in journalism and the non-profit sector, and has served as the Green Party’s Indigenous affairs critic for 12 years. “So it was to me an eco-centric party that really strongly looked at environmental issues and of course a party that was prepared to deal with climate change.”

Rekmans says she first got involved with the Green Party when she was asked by former Green Party leader Elizabeth May to be the Indigenous affairs critic.

“What got me in was when I started realizing we had a platform to educate Canadians about Indigenous issues — that’s part of the reason I stayed so long,” Rekmans says. “As part of that job, I was required to run for a seat — you had to be a candidate if you wanted to be in the shadow cabinet. I ran in Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing [for] my first two campaigns.”

Rekmans says she has a “good team of volunteers” that are working hard on the campaign.

“They’ve very inspired because they think that this election is really about climate change and reconciliation,” Rekmans says. “Those were the two things I was really happy to see the National Chief RoseAnne Archibald talk about; what are the key ballot box questions in this election and she did say climate change and reconciliation.”

Rekmans says the Green Party has passed resolutions repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery.

“That comes out of a recommendation [that] goes all the way back to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and it was picked up again in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations — that’s a foundational piece of Canada’s constitution,” Rekmans says. “We’ve also said as a party we have a motion to invest in the rebuilding of nations, whatever that means to the nations because nothing that we do will be without free, prior and informed consent. So those are pretty strong statements that come right out of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Rekmans says the Green Party is a very progressive party with a heavy focus on environment and social justice and an economic plank.

“The economic plank is to rebuild our entire energy infrastructure so it is low carbon, and while doing that, we are going to create jobs,” Rekmans says. “I was the Indigenous affairs critic and I was advancing a lot of Indigenous policy, and the party is very receptive to it — that’s the reason I’m Green.”

Rekmans says the big issue in her riding is housing and affordability.

“The economy is stagnant and there has been no real federal investment money into this riding,” Rekmans says. “It just seems the area has been left to languish.”

Rekmans says she is also getting “a lot of requests” for information about reconciliation.

“People want to talk about the residential schools — they want action,” Rekmans says. “It’s interesting because it is settler communities that want to talk about reconciliation, accountability for the residential schools and the unmarked graves. It hit people very hard and created a big sadness in the community about the history and not only the history but even the current state, like the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society just trying to get funding for First Nation kids in care that is equitable. These communities had auctions and they were asking for donations to be made to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.”

Rekmans says her riding is very diverse with a range of communities.

“Some were agricultural so I had a steep learning curve around agricultural issues,” Rekmans says.

Rekmans says she has a “huge understanding” of Indigenous issues because she studied Indigenous history and is living as an Indigenous person.

“Our rights are not extinguished, our rights include access to land and resources,” Rekmans says. “My understanding goes beyond the requirement of government to provide programs and services — we have to get to the serious fundamental questions of land because in order to be a nation, we need three things, we need land, culture and language. So without access to significant land, our nationhood is put at risk.”

Rekmans says she believes there has to be a national framework that sets the criteria for Impact Benefit Agreements (IBAs).

“It is an inequitable situation where some companies have all the lawyers and legal resources at their disposal to negotiate these agreements,” Rekmans says. “First of all, we need equity at the table — if there is going to be free, prior and informed consent, then there has to be the resources to make sure we have the same level of understanding at the table as the people we’re negotiating with and we have to have minimum standards in a framework for IBAs.”

Rekmans says she supports equality and self-determination at all levels of government as indicated in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report.

“One of the things I always bring up in every discussion is the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples because we never had action on it,” Rekmans says. “The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples gave us a 20-year roadmap to find our way into a true nation-to-nation relationship with Canada. Because no action was taken on it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea, somebody has to have the political will to take that in hand and start implementing those recommendations, and I believe the Greens are the only party with the political guts to do it.”

Rekmans says she recently wrote a policy motion to amend the Canadian Constitution so the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples could be implemented in full.

“And I passed a policy motion that called on investment in rebuilding of nations and rebuilding of traditional governance structures,” Rekmans says.

Rekmans says she would remind the government constantly of their treaty obligations and responsibilities, and she also supports the repeal of the Indian Act.

“The Green Party of Canada has passed a policy motion to repeal the Indian Act in consultation with First Nations,” Rekmans says. “[The Green Party] is progressive and far ahead of other parties.”

Rekmans says she supports the right to self-government.

“We are going to implement the recommendations that came out of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples — the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was the basis for all self-government discussions in Canada,” Rekmans says. “Indigenous people and Canada were told if we don’t reconstitute the nations there will be no way forward for us.”

Rekmans says the Green Party would implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action that are expressly about cemeteries and death records because it is long past due.

“I’m an intergenerational survivor of the residential school system,” Rekmans says. “I certainly would implement all the recommendations and resource communities to do the work that needs to be done. One of the sad things about it is, why do we have to investigate these crimes? We’re the victims and we’re being forced to investigate the crimes against us.”

Rekmans says the Green Party would work in partnership with First Nations and First Nation organizations to define health needs and provide resources where they are needed based on First Nation recommendations.

“The important principle again is free, prior and informed consent and consultation,” Rekmans says. “One of the challenges has always been that someone else decides what is best, and we see that has failed so we need a new approach, and the people need to tell us what is required and we have to respond.”

Rekmans says the Green Party would fully fund First Nations education.

“We have it in our platform that we want to provide a universal basic income to every single person in this country to lift people completely out of poverty,” Rekmans says. “That’s a proposal that we’ve had and it’s starting to pick up some steam in the Senate and in fact, there was a Liberal private member’s bill just recently advocating for universal basic income, so it would work much the same way as the CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit). So we will address poverty and fully fund education to the same standard as other institutions across Canada.”

The federal election takes place on September 20, 2021. For additional information on the election, please visit Elections Canada.

The Anishinabek News is profiling Anishinabek Nation First Nation candidates who are running in the Federal Election on September 20, 2021. The Anishinabek Nation (Union of Ontario Indians) is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse any political party or candidate.