Truth and Reconciliation Canada

trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3 (click on “What Happened” video)

It’s good to see Canada finally acknowledging it’s racist policies of the past instead of pointing fingers at others. About time. South Africa had theirs over 20 years ago.

Where do we go from here?

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in Canada concerning the many abuses in the so-called “Indian Residential Schools” (a system that affected some seven generations of aboriginal people in Canada) is certainly compelling–but it is in no way a matter of “Canada finally acknowledging its racist policies of the past.” The TRC process was mandated not by the government of Canada but through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, a court decision that sided with the victims who had launched what is widely viewed as the largest class action suit in Canadian history.

There were all kinds of twists and turns since this settlement, including the dissolution of the original commission and all sorts of obstruction and noncompliance by the federal government. The commission needed to sue the feds twice to get access to documents that were not being provided! Shame on the feds for obstructing this process and not complying with their legal obligations.

Despite the continued indifference of the federal government, the TRC process and the release of the summary of its final report earlier this month are major events. It’s up to other Canadians to decide if this government is really representing our interests in moving toward some form of reconciliation (a very tricky term). For those of us who are educators, this is a also chance to step up and acknowledge the abuses and shortcomings of education in Canada (for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples–the latter have not been served by not learning about the history of these abuses). Things need to change. This is one place to start.

Guy

very hypocritical of the Canadians to “push to end apartheid in South Africa” when the average Canadian had no idea about residential schools and the atrocities committed on their own soil. so hypocritical

“How Brian Mulroney spearheaded Canadian push to end apartheid in South Africa and free Nelson Mandela”

news.nationalpost.com/news/world … on-mandela

Especially when the construction of apartheid was modeled after policies like the Canadian Indian Act. How many Canadians are even aware of this?

“It is ironic because the Canadian Indian Act formed much of the basis for the oppressive apartheid policies in South Africa,” said Thunderbird. “ It’s kind of an understood custom and practice that Canada’s Indian Act came to be known as the acceptable role model for apartheid policies and there are books and websites that outline all of this.”

rcinet.ca/english/archives/c … olsAbuses/

“Is it not rich with irony that South Africa imposed its legislation on those peoples, those tribes, in 1948 and they learned from the Indian Act of the government of Canada, that they built their apartheid system on the Indian Act in Canada?” Mr. Kelly asked.

theglobeandmail.com/news/pol … e15902124/

“A mouse was as much a miracle of biology as was an elephant; nevertheless there was a difference — an elephant was bigger.”

the suspense is killing me Mike. what does it mean?

Simply that Canada, along with the U.S. and Australia,and to a lesser extent New Zealand, was lucky enough (from the viewpoint of the whites, of course) to be a country where the locals were extremely vulnerable to disease, without having formidable diseases of their own. Plus the people they faced had Stone Age technology, not Iron Age, though that’s less of a factor.

So the remnant population was very small and out-of-the-way compared to the Bantu peoples in South Africa (the US of course imported a new racial problem). Imagine if the non-white population of South Africa had been only the Khoi (Hottentots) or San (Bushmen), the South Africans and the rest of the world could have ignored the problem too.

(The quote is from Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein)

yes. exactly. it’s good to see some wisdom and intellectual integrity on these topics for a change

Hey, I lived in Rhodesia and travelled through South Africa in the early 70s; believe me , I heard plenty about Canadian hypocrisy at the time.

Nice one brew. I imagine “Blood Diamond” is standard viewing in your household

I am of the view that ranking of oppressions (a kind of Olympics of Racism) is unhelpful.

It’s also pretty clear that historically different parts of the British Empire borrowed techniques of racial domination from each other.

As a result, the damage has been enormous–but new arrangements (educational, legal, and even constitutional) are possible. This is perhaps especially the case in Canada, where large areas including what is now called “British Columbia” were not ceded through any treaty process. The unsettled legal nature of this territory calls out for new ways of co-existence–not just the rampant resource extraction mentality (aboriginal people be damned, climate change be damned!) exhibited by the current federal government of Canada.

Guy

Now, now everybody. Just how are we supposed to protect indigenous folkways from cultural imperialism except by segregation, hmmm? Force everybody into the same schools and you can kiss ethnic identity goodbye. Shared education plus peer pressure will homogenize all the kids. Besides, a government run school system will suck regardless.

Race is mostly a social construct, and culture is purely a social construct. You can have multiculturalism or you can have the melting pot, but you can’t have it both ways.

Of course, it’ll be tough on the wrongskins.

what?

Got to preserve those indigenous cultures, no?

The Indian Residential School system in Canada involved tearing apart families, forcibly relocating children. It involved the medical establishment conducting “nutritional” experiments on these children without consent (testing to see if a diet of vitamins could act as a substitute for actual food–I’ll let you guess the outcome). Sexual abuse was rampant. Many children died.

Given your consistent view of government, I imagine you would be able to view this kind of violent intervention into peoples’ lives, extending over seven generations, as, you know, troubling. If not, then good day to you sir.

Guy

[quote=“afterspivak”]The Indian Residential School system in Canada involved tearing apart families, forcibly relocating children. It involved the medical establishment conducting “nutritional” experiments on these children without consent (testing to see if a diet of vitamins could act as a substitute for actual food–I’ll let you guess the outcome). Sexual abuse was rampant. Many children died.

Given your consistent view of government, I imagine you would be able to view this kind of violent intervention into peoples’ lives, extending over seven generations, as, you know, troubling. If not, then good day to you sir.

Guy[/quote]

If you’re expecting either consistency or sense from rowland…

[quote=“afterspivak”]
Given your consistent view of government, I imagine you would be able to view this kind of violent intervention into peoples’ lives, extending over seven generations, as, you know, troubling. If not, then good day to you sir.

Guy[/quote]

Well, I can tell you I didn’t vote for it. As for whoever did… take it up with them. Also, it wasn’t right wingers who invented eugenics. I looked it up. For example, somebody called Sanger decided it would be a good idea to plan black people’s parenthood.

Shall we take this to the Evil Whitey thread?

not too many Canadians on forumosa or what? i would have thought this type of thing would get a lot more attention and debate. shock, denial, disbelief, what?

Most Canadians, especially the ones on a place like forumosa, have been aware of this for a long time.

Besides, it’s much more fun castigating Americans.

As mikeN says, this is not news to most of us and since no one is in denial there isn’t much to discuss. I think most Canadians understand what we did, believe in reconciliation and compensation, and believe in a free media reporting on the truth, which is what is happening, despite some of the deliberate roadblocks.