Canadians Say Sorry A Lot; Just Not for Genocide or Racism

In 2018, a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos Jr. Hockey Team was travelling northbound near Armley, Saskatchewan when it was struck by a west bound semi-Tractor/Trailer killing 16 and injuring 13 others. The team was travelling to a playoff game in Nipawin. Canada’s reaction was nothing short of what would normally be reserved for heads of state. The nation mourned, there were statements of condolences from the Prime Minister and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. People all across the country left hockey sticks outside their front doors overnight to remember the youth that died as if they were soldiers killed in combat. These young predominantly white males who were potential stars of Canada’s National Game, were treated like martyrs.

I mean no disrespect to the families of the young men killed in this horrible accident with what I am about to write. At the time of this writing, the remains of at least 215 bodies of Indidgenous children, some as young as 3 years old, were discovered on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The bodies belonged to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. Although many were horrified, this news story remains a blip on the radar of the nation. Outside of First Nations who are mourning their children’s deaths at the hands of the Government and the Catholic Church, most Canadians have not been affected. People are horrified but still see it as “a dark chapter in Canada’s history” as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote. Only it is not history, it is ongoing. The last residential school was closed in 1996, the first one opened in 1828. That’s 168 years of murder, physical, sexual and psychological abuse perpetrated against children, endorsed by both the church and the state.

It seems that the only way white people and other non-Indigenous people can seem to grasp it is to compare it to the atrocities of the holocaust during the second world war. It is hard for people to fathom that our government was complicit. Almost impossible to grasp that a country like ours deliberately tortured and murdered children, but we did and still do. First Nations in Canada have been talking about this for years but no one listened, until now.

So let’s be clear on just how many times the Canadian government has ignored the claims of Residential School Survivors. In the 1980’s accusations of sexual abuse in the schools began to surface and and the Canadian legal system was slow to respond. Out of 38,000 claims there were less than fifty convictions. There was an apology issued by the Canadian Government in June of 2008 but many felt it was merely symbolic…”the Government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this. We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions, that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this”. Unfortunately there was no real action taken. The fact that there are active cases still before the courts that have met nothing but resistance should tell us how committed this country is to reconciliation of any kind. The Catholic Church has yet to offer an apology even after Prime Minister Trudeau personally made a request to Pope Francis. Truth be told; the Catholic Church who ran the Kamloops Residential School where the bodies were discovered, from 1890 to 1969, has been so mired in lawsuits from individuals around the globe that they are terrified of any admission of guilt on their part for fear of having to pay even more money than they already have to survivors of abuse both here and in other countries.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commision, http://www.trc.ca/about-us/trc-findings.html which was active between 2008 to 2015 was established to document the history and lasting impact on Indigenous people and their families caused by the Residential School System. It provided survivors an opportunity to share their stories of abuse and neglect. Indigenous people were once again asked to relive their nightmares by standing in front of a panel of strangers. Most were retraumatized but felt it a necessary step in achieving reconciliation for themselves and the generations to come. According to participants it was an exhausting experience. The result of this process was 94 calls to action of which only 10 have been implemented. Also many people feel that the TRC historicizes colonialism in Canada rather than admitting that it’s impact is ongoing and is at the root of systemic racism towards Indigenous people in Canada. Also the TRC is only tied to the Residential School system, rather than everything that affects the First Nations such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, The Sixties Scoop, Unceded territory, drinking water and the reserve system. All of these things are simply the governments way of imposing apartheid on Indigenous people in this country.

Most of Canada is aware of atrocities that were perpetrated against First Nations here in Canada, although not yet willing to admit that it was Genocide. It is taught starting in elementary school and here in British Columbia we celebrate Orange Shirt Day on September 30 every year to remember school survivors. But Canada will not admit to being complicit in genocide, nor will that they even ackowlege that word. The Canadian

Government is withholding documents and so are certain Orders within the Church such as the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who ran The Kamloops school. Why?Prime Minister Trudeau just recently suggested that the Church release all their records yet his government won’t do the same.

So let’s just take a moment to reflect on the Elephant In The Room; systemic racism and white supremacy. Canada, of all countries does not want to admit the truth. Now I’m not talking about the overt, in your face racists or the neo-nazis,although there’s no shortage of them either, no, I am speaking of your next door neighbour who you occasionally have beers with over the backyard bbq but loves a good Native joke. I am talking about the guy at your bank who always treats you like you’re the best customer ever and yet he’s the same person who called the cops on a grandfather and his granddaughter because they were indigenous. Let’s think for a moment about all the time’s you’ve heard people you know quite well say this; “Geez, isn’t it about time they got over it”? I am also speaking of the almost every single white person you know. If you find that hard to believe then consider this; in a 2016 Forum poll, it was revealed that 41% revealed that they were distrustful of BIPOC and that of that, 28% were anti-Islam.

Just 2 days ago a family in London, Ontario were out for a walk after dinner when a black pick-up truck driven by 20 year old Nathaniel Veltman, mounted the curb and ran them over. Salman Afzaal, father, Madiha Salman, mother, 15 year old Yumna, daughter and 9 year old Fayez Salman. Fayez was the only survivor. He remains in stable condition in hospital. This child witnessed his family being murdered simply because of their faith. They were deliberately targeted in an act of hatred and cowardice.

In 2017, 27 year old Alexandre Bissonnette, walked into a Mosque in Quebec City during evening prayers and opened fire with a 9mm Glock pistol and did not stop for 2 full minutes. Six people died and five were injured. Bissonnette was not charged with committing a Terrorist Act. The Province of Quebec was the same province that successfully passed Bill 21, which bans the wearing of religious symbols by public service workers and in particular affects Muslim women who wear the hijab. Our Prime Minister supports that.

Along with Residential Schools our history is littered with racist acts and legislation. There was the Chinese Head Tax and the Chinese Exclusion act https://humanrights.ca/story/the-chinese-head-tax-and-the-chinese-exclusion-act, The Komagata Maru Incident https://humanrights.ca/story/the-story-of-the-komagata-maru, Japanese Internment during WW2 https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature and honestly far too much to list here but please do some digging on your own. Apologies have been made and money has been distributed in all of the above cases but nothing has changed. Until the system is held accountable homegrown terrorists such as Bissonette, Nathaniel Veltman, Alek Minassian and probably a host of others whose names we haven’t heard of yet will continue to commit terrorist acts against BIPOCs in this country and nothing much will come of it other than a lot white people shaking their heads and misguided thoughts and prayers.

Also, the media needs to be held to account. First of all journalists, white journalists in particular need to be better educated when it comes to reporting race and racism. For example the Afzaal family that was murdered by Veltman. They describe each member and list their attributes such as the father is described as a gentle soul who was a physiotherapist and liked to play cricket. The mother and wife, Madiha, was working on her PHD and held an engineering degree. The daughter Yumna, a ninth grade Honour Roll student and the entire family is described as humble and accomplished. You may be wondering why any of this is a problem. It’s a problem because the media feels the need to let the public know that these were “the good kind of Muslim Immigrants” and not “the lazy welfare kind”. This is a very common problem in the reporting of immigrants and people of colour in this country. It’s as if they have to justify to the public that this was indeed a tragedy rather than just letting the fact that an innocent family was murdered for nothing more than their religion and skin colour. Is that not enough?!

Then we have the hypocrisy of Canada recognizing the following; The Holocaust, The Armenian Genocide, Ukranian Holodomor, The Rawandan Genocide, the Srebenica massacres, the mass killing of the Yazidi people, the mass murder of the Muslim Rohingya and just recently they have recognized the Uyghur mistreatment and murder in China. Canada flat out refuses to recognize the Indian Residential School mass murders as Genocide. It is probably the single most horrific thing that a government can be party to; the torture, murdering and rape of children and yet we don’t have the courage or compassion to take responsibility.

It is time for this nation to take extreme ownership of all it has done as settler colonists. It is also time for us as individuals to be allies and speak up and call out and let our Indigenous people and all immigrants and BIPOCS all across the country that we will no longer tolerate racism in any form, intolerance or violence. We are standing on the edge of a very high cliff right now and we need, for the sake of this nation, to be accountable and end systemic racism so that we can finally have reconciliation and move forward and actually earn our way in this world. Let us be a nation of compassionate and fair individuals who value everyone. Every Child Matters.