June is National Indigenous History Month. This month honours the contributions of Indigenous people to Canada and Ontario—our rich history, they say. It’s a month that encourages people to have events that people can learn from.

Indigenous people have many stories that need to be told and heard by Canadians. I hope that people take the time to attend events in your areas and to listen with an open heart about the real history of Canada: the genocide, the loss of our ways of life, the loss of our languages, our children and our lands.

Canada and Ontario have had many opportunities and lots of time to make changes in their relationship with Indigenous people. But most of the time, governments don’t make the time to find the political will to create positive change. The political will comes from the people. Once you acknowledge National Indigenous History Month, take another step and ask yourself what you can do to move forward from just having this month, and use your voices to make change.

Our actions cannot be performative, and we cannot be the ones always reconciling. You have to do your part. Real change is about action, not words.

Meegwetch. My question is to the Minister of Education. Last week, Lambton Kent District School Board wrote to the Minister of Education about the 63% cut to their Indigenous education funding. Speaker, it’s wrong to cut funding during National Indigenous History Month. School boards across Ontario need resources for curriculum on residential schools, on treaties, on Indigenous history, as well as land-based learning. But I don’t know: What’s wrong with our history?

Speaker, how is the board supposed to implement their Indigenous education programming with a 63% cut in funding for next year?