As expected, the MMIW Inquiry report was delivered in a ceremony yesterday morning, and the prime minister accepted the report at the ceremony and promised that a national action plan would be developed in concert with Indigenous people – but the fact that he didn’t echo the use of the word “Canadian genocide” from the report had everyone trying to make an Issue out of it (though he made a qualified use of the term at a speech later in the day in Vancouver). The overall theme of the report is that there needs to be a “decolonization” in order for things to get better – which is easier said than done. The report’s 231 recommendations are phrased as “legal imperatives,” but some of them are tremendously problematic or impractical. Some of it is useful – suggestions around policing (which the RCMP promises to review carefully), some specific recommendations about the “man camps” that accompany resource development projects in Indigenous territory, more Indigenous prosecutors and judges (but less helpful is the suggestion that they may require a separate judicial system). But far less practical “imperatives” included things like demanding that the government create jobs in Indigenous communities (because we have a command-and-control economy?), or the creation of a basic income for all Canadians (erm, you know how much that would actually cost, right? Right?). How those kinds of recommendations can be phrased as “legal imperatives” is in and of itself a problem.

And then we’re back to the “genocide” issue, which has sucked up a lot of the oxygen. The Commissioners asserted that it’s a different kind of genocide than the Holocaust or what happened in Rwanda (which had Roméo Dallaire objecting), but wanted to remove the qualification of “cultural” genocide that was previously used in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, and which was accepted by pretty much all facets of Canadian society. Expect this particular polarizing language to continue to dominate the discussion in the weeks ahead.

In hot takes, Chantal Hébert worries that the report’s fairly hardline, all-or-nothing approach will be an excuse for people to tune out rather than engage with its findings (much like the apocalyptic language around climate change has not had the desired effect of spurring action). Chris Selley, meanwhile, points out some of the glaring omissions in the report, the lack of some context when it comes to rates of murders of Indigenous men, for example, and some of the contradictory recommendations such as being against mandatory minimum sentences because they disproportionately affect Indigenous people – while calling for mandatory minimums that are punitive if victims are Indigenous women, never mind that most of the perpetrators will be Indigenous men.

Good reads:

• Jim Carr says that Canada endorses the EU plan to set up an alternate WTO appeal body if the Americans don’t name any replacements to the current one.
• Harjit Sajjan announced that Canada will assist Japan in enforcing the sanctions on North Korea for the next two years.
• After a couple of amendments, the pot possession pardons bill is headed to the Senate.
• Rona Ambrose’s bill on sexual assault training for judges was at a special meeting of the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee last night.
• A former provincial Liberal Cabinet minister that people are trying to convince to run against Jane Philpott says she’s not interested.
• Conservatives are sticking with Michael Cooper after his outburst and removal from committee, while Liberals are calling for him to be booted from caucus.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at what the pre-writ election period will look like with the new rules that are now in place.
• Andrew Coyne posits that the rise of the Greens at the expense of the Liberals may be because they have the more compelling narrative.
• Kevin Carmichael looks into the problem of central banks possibly needing to change their ways when it comes to inflation targeting, but being reluctant to do so.
• Colby Cosh notes that reproductive freedom has been getting more expansive in Canada, not less, especially with the advent of Mifegymiso.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at how the Queen is one of the only women able to tame Donald Trump.

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