Tuesday, March 27, 2018
White guilt
Mostly I’m satisfied to be Canadian*. But secretly, the way we treated the indigenous people who were here first fills me with shame. Like the despicable residential schools that broke a generation, or those Today’s Child ads that offered native children for adoption like puppies. They treasured this land for generations, then we came along, ruining everything.
*I've never said aboot in my life. I don't know anyone who has**.
**Except for Americans trying to sound Canadian
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So Americans aren't the only ones who did this? Somehow the news doesn't make me feel any better about it.
ReplyDeleteI admit that when we visited Canada, I was surprised not to find information on the indigenous people in the museums. Instead, they went on and on about trapping, forgetting to inform the ignorant traveller what it was exactly that was trapped.
ReplyDeleteMost colonised countries, though, have shameful pasts. I don't know much about Latin America, but Africa is a disaster thanks to the European colonists. Australia's history is pretty horrific. NZ was not that bad (at all - we actually signed a treaty with the Maori), but still they were dispossessed of their land, their culture and their language (though these are being restored now), and now they pay for it filling all the rungs on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
I was wondering about this a while ago -- if the Canadians were any better than the US.
ReplyDeleteI mean in terms of indigenous people. You folks are better in a lot of ways.
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