OPINION | Red sky at night, Indigenous delight

As the "red wave"started taking over the east coast, indigenous people across Canada started to feel a littlebit of hope.

Could it be that after ten years of battling the Conservatives at seemingly every turnthere may actually be a change?

As Ontario and Quebec went red too, that wave turned to relief for indigenous people. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was quickly confirmed as the prime minister-designatewith asolid majority of184. Stephen Harper, who is stepping down, and the Conservativeswereleft withjust 99 seats. The NDP with only 44.

Indigenous people who usually don't vote came out in droves to take selfies outside of the polling booth,but mostly to "heave Steve"orvote "anybody but Conservative"(ABC). There were stories of reservecommunities running out of ballots. The St Mary's polling station in Saskatoon-Westwas literally overwhelmed with the amount of voters, a majority of them indigenous. The FirstNation and Mtis vote certainly helped Saskatoon-West winner NDP Sheri Benson and NDP GeorginaJolibois in the Desnethe-Missinippi-ChurchillRiverriding.

So, the Harper government is gone, butsome folks say the Liberals are the same cat with differentstripes. Remember, the Liberals are the party that tabled the White Paper that proposed full assimilationand in the 1990s imposed the dreaded 2 per centcap on First Nation funding. They also had many years toapologise for the residential schools, but alas, just didn't get around to it during their last mandate.

The Liberals certainly do have a tainted past, but indigenous people have reason to be optimistic. TheLiberal Party promised to remove that2 per cent cap on funding, inject billions into education, accept the UnitedNations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous People and implement the calls to action from theTruth and Reconciliation Commission. The party also called fora national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenouswomen andin his victory speech,Trudeau promised to negotiate on a nation-to-nationbasis.

That's a big list but how do we hold them to it?

Liberal candidates Lisa Abbott and Della Anaquod rangreat campaigns. Lawrence Joseph got as close as you can get in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill Riverandbelieve me, those voiceswill be heard in Ottawa. They have a great indigenous caucus and also electedfive indigenous Members of Parliament. Plus there is always old faithful, Ralph Goodale.

But the most powerful thing pushing forward the agenda will be the people. Indigenous people areengaged on a new level. This is an historic step. In the past, politiciansdidn'tcare about indigenous issuesbecause we didn't care to vote. This massive turnout will certainly make the Liberal party, and Trudeau for that matter, pay attention to the indigenous people of Canada.