If we constantly lie to ourselves, who are we fooling? We lie about our first nations peoples being indigenous. And now we are accusing those whose ancestors came later to this land of the horror of genocide. This is wrong. This is burying our heads in the sands of time
Are we taking the blame for our father’s failings? And his father and his father before him? Does the immigrant stepping off the boat assume the mantle of tyranny that is dispersed willy-nilly to us all?
We should remember that our forefathers were hardly stupid but they dealt with events as they were in their times. Maybe they bought into misconceptions about the natives of their day?
And who the hell gave them license to call themselves ‘indigenous’? They came to this land thousands of years before the first Europeans but they are not from here. Is this just another lie by our politicians to curry favour with the aboriginals?
And the inquiry that just came to its conclusions should be ashamed. The accusation of genocide is evil. It divides us instead of seeking common cause. Genocide requires a plan. It includes an intent—a common purpose. We cannot allow Canadians to be pilloried in this manner. If our police cannot protect Canadian women and girls, we had better hire and train better police.
Even though the residential schools were wrong, the intent, at the time, was to help. It was the wrong way to help. It showed a lack of respect. It showed wrong thinking. It set afoot some terrible injustices. Children were mistreated and died. Families were torn apart.
But today we have the technology for distance learning. We can also deliver adequate housing and potable water. Where the aboriginal peoples choose to live is not the problem. Political will is the problem.
We need to put the blame where it belongs. Promises unkept are lies.
Why cannot the people of the north be our wardens of the north. It can be an opportunity, not a banishment. Why can they not be hired to be our first responders and help protect our boreal forests from wildfires and to help to replant and reforest as needed. They can also help to preserve and protect the wild life we are losing.
Our aboriginal peoples, our first nations, need and want our respect. They need the opportunity to earn it. We have to help make it happen.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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