The next PM

VICE asked Tanya Tagaq, Hayden King, Buffy Sainte-Marie and others about what they want from Canada's next prime minister

Earlier this month VICE asked some prominent Indigenous folks what they want from a prime minister.

Musician Tanya Tagaq, lawyer Tanya Kappo, Ryerson University’s Hayden King, singer/songwriter Leela Gilday, professor and author Taiaiake Alfred, MKO Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, author Gord Hill, the incredible Buffy Sainte-Marie, lecturer Leah Gazan and writer and filmmaker Katherena Vermette all weighed in.  

The current federal election campaign, which wraps up next Monday, hasn’t focused much on Indigenous issues. There’s been some talk about missing and murdered women and access to water, for example, but these discussions have mostly been one offs and on the periphery.

Via tanyatagaq.com

“There are many things that could be done,” Tagaq said.“A shift in the education system, forming a curriculum separately: one for the South of Canada to teach the actual history and reasoning behind what's happening, and for the North of Canada to incorporate healing—almost group therapy—with a shift in the judicial system so we can have our power within our own laws,” Tagaq said. 

Read the rest of the responses here.