Sorry is Right: The True Meaning of Canada’s Residential School Apology
Two years ago almost to the day, much was made of the Canadian government’s Statement of Apology to survivors of the country’s ‘Indian’ residential schools, where the only thing Indian about these grievous institutions were the children forced into them.
We know the intended mission behind the schools: to systematically destroy the Indian in the child. Their architects hoped to do this, first, by removing Aboriginal children from everyone and everything that they knew and loved. Thus isolated, we were more readily subjected to the constant efforts aimed at eviscerating and eliminating our languages, our lifeways, our spiritual practices and our cultural institutions.
It is an internationally-recognized act of genocide to forcibly transfer children of one group to another group. But again, that was only the first step. Linguistic and cultural erasure were the next calculated acts. Removed as they were en masse from their parents’ embrace, their community’s care and the rootedness of their people’s culture, it takes no great feat of imagination to see that this great physical and psychic dislocation had caused serious mental harm, which, when waged against members of a specific group, constitutes another criminal act of genocide under international law.
But we know all this, not least because the Harper government apologized for it back in 2008:
[T]he 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. …
The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for far too long. The burden is properly ours as a Government, and as a country. There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian Residential Schools system to ever prevail again. You have been working on recovering from this experience for a long time and in a very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey. The Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.
Such contrition! Words that held enough truth inside them, you could not be faulted for wondering whether they could also contain the genuine seeds of “a new relationship” between Indigenous peoples and Canada: a “partnership” based on mutual respect, good faith and honour.
Swayed momentarily by words, you eventually face facts in the form of actions. In its March 2010 Speech from the Throne, the Harper government said that
A growing number of states have given qualified recognition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Our Government will take steps to endorse this aspirational document in a manner fully consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws.
Last week (a scant 3 months after the Throne Speech), we found out what this government really thinks of the Declaration. It slipped out as part of a federal submission to a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case regarding First Nations child welfare funding levels. The complaint alleges inequities in federal funding between First Nations child welfare agencies and the provincial agencies. (Take a wild guess who receives less, much less?)
The Winnipeg Free Press writes that the submission, provided by the attorney general of Canada, implies “the [D]eclaration is meaningless in Canada and shouldn’t be used to determine the human rights challenge.”
To quote the submission itself:
In its explanation of vote at the [United Nations General Assembly] Canada stated that it had significant concerns with the wording of the text, and underlined that it is non-binding, has no legal effect in Canada and that its provisions do not represent customary international law. Canada’s position on the declaration has not changed.
Forgive me if I fail to see how, post-Apology, the colonial practices of old have been replaced in any significant way by something different or better in this country. On-reserve child welfare systems reportedly receiving 22% less funding than their off-reserve counterparts. A federal promise to consider abiding by “international standards for the treatment of indigenous peoples” amounting to little more than an effectively empty ‘endorsement.’
In the face of such conduct post-Apology by its leaders, one can see that Canada truly is one sorry country.
Sorry is Right: The True Meaning of Canada’s Apology
Two years ago almost to the day, much was made of the
Canadian government’s apology to survivors of the country’s
‘Indian’ residential schools, where the only thing Indian
about these grievous institutions were the children forced
into them.
We know the intended mission behind the schools: to
systematically destroy the Indian in the child. Their
architects hoped to do this, first, by removing Aboriginal
children from everyone and everything that they knew and
loved. Thus isolated, we were more readily subject to the
constant efforts aimed at eviscerating and eliminating our
languages, our lifeways, our spiritual practices and our
cultural institutions.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/genocide.htm
It is an internationally-recognized act of genocide to
forcibly transfer children of one group to another group.
Again, that was only the first step. Linguistic and cultural
erasure were the next calculated acts. Now removed en masse
from their parents’ embrace, their community’s care and the
rootedness of their people’s culture, it takes no great feat
of imagination to understand that this physical and psychic
dislocation caused mental harm to the youngest members of
the affected group, another potentially criminal act of
genocide under international law perpetrated in Canada.
But we know all this. Because the Harper Government
apologized for it back in 2008:
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/rqpi/apo/index-eng.asp
…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. …
The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for
far too long. The burden is properly ours as a Government,
and as a country. There is no place in Canada for the
attitudes that inspired the Indian Residential Schools
system to ever prevail again. You have been working on
recovering from this experience for a long time and in a
very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey. The
Government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the
forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for
failing them so profoundly.
Such contrition! Words that held enough truth inside them,
you could not be faulted for wondering whether they could
also contain the genuine seeds of “a new relationship”
between Indigenous peoples and Canada: a “partnership” based
on mutual respect, good faith and honour.
Swayed momentarily by words, you eventually face facts in
the form of actions.
In its March 2010 Speech from the Throne, the Harper
government said that
http://www.discours.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1388
A growing number of states have given qualified recognition
to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. Our Government will take steps to
endorse this aspirational document in a manner fully
consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/feds-ignoring-rights
-commitment-liberal-95597884.html
Last week (a scant 3 months after the Throne Speech), we
found out what this government really thinks of the
Declaration. It slipped out as part of a federal submission
to a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case regarding First
Nations child welfare funding levels. The complaint “alleges
that First Nations children in federally-funded child
welfare agencies cannot access the same services as other
children in provincial agencies due to inequities in
funding,” reports Canadian Business.
The Winnipeg Free Press writes that the submission, provided
by the attorney general of Canada, implies “the
[D]eclaration is meaningless in Canada and shouldn’t be used
to determine the human rights challenge.”
To quote the submission itself:
“In its explanation of vote at the [United Nations General
Assembly] Canada stated that it had significant concerns
with the wording of the text, and underlined that it is
non-binding, has no legal effect in Canada and that its
provisions do not represent customary international law.
Canada’s position on the declaration has not changed.”
Forgive me if I fail to see how the colonial practices of
old have been replaced in any significant way by something
different or better in this country. On-reserve child
welfare systems reportedly receiving 22% fewer dollars
http://www.firstnationsdrum.com/2009/october/child-tribunal.
html than their off-reserve counterparts. Federal promises
to consider abiding by “international standards for the
treatment of indigenous peoples” effectively empty
endorsement.
In the face of such conduct post-Apology by its leaders, one
can only conclude that Canada truly is one sorry country.
well done rick!!!
I remember Harper was pretty tepid while delivering the apology. And there were some ass-wipes who were offended that the PM was apologizing for something that they really didn't want to think about or whatever; I don't know how widespread the backlash, but I'd bet that it's focused in Harper's base.
I'd be more surprised to see the government take some substantial steps towards reconciliation. Lots of Canadians seem to have a very distorted view of what life is like on reserve
Time for all of us to get a copy of the book How To Get Stupid White Men Out Of Office and put the advice in it to good use, methinks.
Time for all of us to get a copy of the book How To Get Stupid White Men Out Of Office and put the advice in it to good use, methinks.
At the time of the apologee (or the 'apolo-gee-whiz'), Canadian Artic tribes were still suffering from the effects of poor water supply and the government MOVING the entire community. The governemt outlined when the residential schools ran and shut down, missing the shut down date by an entire decade…was it just too heinuous for Canadians to know that the last res school ran until the early 90's? Where were the stories of the fetuses found buried in the walls of the torn down schools, the mass grave sites, and that when disease came in some schools buried the children alive? Canadians STILL don't know the horrors and perhaps their psyches can't handle it, after all, they believe too deeply in their own image of a peace keeping nation. Now that that cover has been blown with Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, it's purchase of $9 Billion dollars of fighter jets, it's involvement in the Iraq war (though Canada denied that for as long as possible)…..maybe just maybe Canuk's will be starting to see the light and accept it's abysmal history and continued genocide.
When children at res schools were punished by having wooden blocks placed in their mouth for speaking their lanquage, or a nail driven through their tongue, when children were made to get down on their knees and scrub the floor with a tooth brush, or have medical or psychological experiments perfromed on them as part of the eugenics program….when sex was forced upon them, or they were sterilized, these CHILDREN held their tears for fear of reprisal. And all the while the Canadian public remained blind, the media remained deaf, the politicians remained mute. See no evil….
Today Stephen Harper's mentor, Professor Tom Flanagan of the University of Calgary has done an about face, seemingly, that Harper has yet to publicly support. Flanagan and Harper once believed in taking reservation land away and assimilating First Nations into the Canadian mozaic. TODAY Flanagan is touting aboriginals to be able to place monetary value on their land and buildings with the capability of selling. The Nisgaa of the North West Coast have bought the notion, their own corrupt chief's myopia to line their pockets today while the corporations and government can buy up land for it's resources….after all, Stephen Harper is in competition with Putin at G-8 conferences to sell, sell, sell their prospective nation's resources…they're akin to used car salesmen , it is the rape mentality the patriarchal colonizers hold.
When we finally condemn rape is the day the world will turn around. Until then the phallic world of drilling, blasting, weapons and space hold their power over what should be the sacred bounty of harvest.
Creator has bigger things in store for us all…buckle up, the rides going to be a rough one as we move to the start of a new world.