A Somber July 1

Though I'm a relatively new Canadian, I am a North American of New England settler/colonial stock, and therefore share in the shame of what was done to the indigenous population of this continent. There is no way I can celebrate Canada Day, in light of the discovery of the graves of nearly 1,000 children who died at residential schools -- and there will certainly be many more. I urge all of us to spend at least some time this day in reflection and sorrow about the tragedy that took place on this soil, and consideration of what can be done to make reparation.

 

In addition, the indigenous people have warned repeatedly about the damage being done to the natural world, and have never abandoned their sense of stewardship. Do we need any more proof than the temperatures and wildfires in western Canada, or the recent tornadoes and violent weather here in Quebec? This is a time of reckoning on so many fronts, and we can either bury our heads in the sand, or demand genuine action by our governments, and work individually for change.

Comments

[am]

Individually as members of a diverse community working together for change.

As a Métis wrote, "You are culpable. And so am I."

https://chrislatray.substack.com/p/you-are-culpable?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyNDkzNDYxLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozODA0NDc5MSwiXyI6ImE0RG5YIiwiaWF0IjoxNjI1MTU5MDY1LCJleHAiOjE2MjUxNjI2NjUsImlzcyI6InB1Yi05Mzg0Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.vlGY4qNQdo82iNg7RRr-7qtHNOhVSv9cHTm0-P6XYZU

[Duchesse]

Based on a series of private conversations I have witnessed over decades, various bands knew precisely about the deaths: where, when and who. (Would not you know which of your small community's children were taken and of those, the ones about whom you received vague and unverifiable information?) I am enraged about how long it took those institutions to release records. I believe the last two cases will forever change the relationship between those churches and indigenous people.

[Roderick Robinson]

But it is important that that this news has been made public. However horrible. In the light of this we may cast our minds back and realise that the greater tragedy would have been if the children's fate had remained unrevealed, that they had continued to be beyond sympathy and mourning.

[Duchesse]

@ Roderick Robinson: The matter was public for years, documented in a 2015 report by the federal government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, titled "Canada's Residential Schools: Unmarked Graves and Missing Children". The grave sites are in the report. We knew they existed but did not want to face it. Apologies offered by the government and the institutions after the 2015 report are widely judged inadequate.

The great majority of the children were not, as some people think, murdered. They died from the same natural causes (TB, flu) that other children of the era did, but at a much higher rate, due to poor medical treatment and the living conditions at the schools, caused by their wish to keep operating costs low. This focus on cost was also why the bodies were not shipped home.