Engagement And Acknowledgement As Steps Towards Reparation

In an age where traditionally marginalized segments of society are all struggling to gain official recognition and acceptance, the aboriginal peoples of Canada are making large strides towards obtaining mainstream acknowledgement and support.  In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the culture of indigenous Canadians, which has helped propel their cause into the spotlight.  This week, the New York Times has reported on a film project titled “Edge of the Knife,” a film that has a script written predominantly in Haida, which was no easy task given that the Haida language, as with other Aboriginal languages, has been mostly forgotten due to government policies of the past.

In a 2008 court settlement, the Canadian government not only apologized to previous students of the schools, but also stated that “A just reconciliation requires more than simply talking about the need to heal the deep wounds of history… Words of apology alone are insufficient; concrete actions on both symbolic and material fronts are required.”  For people such as Sphenia Jones, of the Haida people, the world has already been notably changed.  Jones, a cast member of the “Edge of the Knife” movie, was forced into a residential school and abused when she attempted to learn her own language instead of English.  In the movie, Jones gets to speak her language for the first time in over six decades.  Speaking with the New York Times about the film, Jones said that “It feels so good…Mainly because I can say it out loud without being afraid.”

It is easy to be infatuated with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, especially when he is compared to his U.S counterpart, Donald Trump.  But Trudeau’s track record regarding indigenous Canadians is not without blemish.  Despite his 2015 election campaign promises, Trudeau’s government gave its approval to the construction of two major pipelines; pipelines that indigenous groups, upon which whose land the pipelines will be built, are very much against.  However, the Trudeau Administration has shown a distinct willingness to meet and work with Aboriginal organizations such as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), one of several indigenous representative organizations in Canada.  This willingness to work with indigenous organizations is an important step in the right direction.  Due largely to the prejudicial and often devastating policies pursued by the Canadian government in the past, Aboriginal peoples continue to face many hardships, including, as reported by the CBC, high incarceration rates and numbers of indigenous children in foster care as well as the many indigenous women who have either been murdered or gone missing.

Canada is not the only North American country to tear aboriginal children away from their parents and forcibly enrol them in schools in an attempt to westernize them.  Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. also pursued similar policies.  In Canada, the schools were generally under the direction of Christian churches, reports the New York Times, though paid for by the government.  In addition to purging the children of their cultural heritage, the schools were also centres of abuse and neglect; places where, according to the New York Times, over 3,000 children died.  The ramifications of these policies continue to impact the aboriginal peoples to this day.

The problems faced by the aboriginal peoples of Canada will not be rectified overnight, nor can future policies undo or make up for what has happened in the past, but acknowledging the traumatic past and working with aboriginal groups today can at least ensure that the human rights abuses of the past are not repeated in the future.  The Canadian government is far from perfect, but its willingness to engage with indigenous Canadians is certainly a trait to be admired and applauded.

S.M. Ellison
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