Rivers: Canada Day is a Time for Reflection

 When a war between nations is lost

The loser, we know, pays the cost

But even when Germany fell to your hands

Consider dear lady, consider dear man

You left them their pride and you left them their lands

And what have you done to these ones

(Now That the Buffalo’s Gone – Buffy Sainte-Marie)

By Ray Rivers

June 29^th, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

This will be a tough July 1st for a lot of Canadians.  For one thing there are fewer of us to celebrate this year – over twenty-six thousand of our loved ones have died from COVID.  Another million and a half became infected, a third of whom have been inflicted with long haul issues.

And the pandemic is not over by a long shot, even though the infection and death numbers are down and the vaccines up.  Just look at the UK which thought it was in the clear but is experiencing its highest COVID infection numbers since February, even though their first and second dose vaccination rates are better than ours.

The first stage of the public response to the tragic news of the unmarked graves.

And then there is the shock and the ongoing tragic saga about the residential schools.  So far a thousand unmarked graves have been located.  But that is on the grounds of only two out of the 150 schools which the churches had operated.

Even if the children had died from TB, Spanish Flu, measles, influenza or some other disease, they were still in the care of the churches.  And the buck stops with the federal government which had authorized their kidnapping and confinement.    Malnutrition, over-crowding, physical stress from manual labour and emotional stress from the abuse, including sexual abuse, all weighed in with deadly consequences.

Nobody should take a child away from their parents without their permission and just cause.  But having elected to do so they needed to ensure their health and safety.  Why were the school records not maintained by the government and disclosed to the parents? Why were parents not even informed of the deaths and/or the bodies returned?  One can only imagine how the parents and the community leaders and the community felt, watching helplessly in anguish and horror, as their children were taken away.  And then to learn that so many were not coming back.

The Prime Minister suggests that Canada Day this year is a time for reflection.  We should reflect on what the original inhabitants of this land are feeling.  To them Canada is that country which took away their lands and their freedom.  Should we really expect them to be as enthusiastic about celebrating Canada Day as Erin O’Toole, the leader of the Conservative party thinks they should be.

The plight of our indigenous population is something Leader of the Opposition O’Toole does not appear to understand.

Despite O’Toole’s plea to party on July 1st as if nothing had happened, much of the country is heeding the wishes of the indigenous leaders and cancelling fireworks and other celebrations.  Ottawa will be holding a sacred fire and municipalities in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and B.C. are cancelling traditional celebrations.  They are suggesting that this day be one of reflection for the plight of our indigenous population and of how we can do better into the future.

Mr. Trudeau has called on the Pope to publicly apologize given the huge role the Catholic Church had in all of this, but there is no sign of that happening.  There is some discussion about criminal charges being laid against those responsible for the schools and the program.  And internationally China has used this incident to challenge and embarrass our PM after Justin criticized China’s treatment of its Uighur minority.

Canadians are generally outraged and some will heed the direction of the Prime Minister for a sombre day of reflection.   There are demonstrations planned in protest, this Canada Day.  Catholic churches situated on some reserves have already been burnt to the ground, presumably in protest.  Some people have defaced and destroyed statues of Canada’s founding father, Sir John A. Macdonald.  And, civic authorities are renaming buildings and edifices honouring Sir John A. and Egerton Ryerson, the architect of the school system.

It was the Indian Act which provided the framework for assimilating Canada’s first nations and destroying their native culture.  And the residential schools were part of that framework.  This racist piece of legislation is still in place today, curiously and ironically, because the very indigenous leaders who disdain it also refuse to let it die.   Pierre Trudeau tried to get rid of it back in 1969 and was thwarted by the aboriginal community, who fretted over losing rights that had been conveyed to them under the Act.  Nothing is easy about this.

The healing has begun – now we have to find all the cemeteries.

As Canadians we had been taught that ours was a more peaceful treatment of our indigenous population than, for example, the USA.  After all, European settlers arriving in the Americas were responsible for the elimination of an estimated 90% of Indigenous populations, either through the introduction of disease or by outright massacre.   The US government committed as much genocide against its indigenous people as did almost any other nation on earth.  Some 1500 ‘Indian Wars’ later only a quarter of a million indigenous people was all that remained from the estimated 15 million living in North America when Columbus first arrived.

Canada’s approach to evicting its native population from what they considered their lands was less violent and less deadly than our neighbour to the south.  But the indigenous people ended up being marginalized to the same extent.  So there is much to ponder as we reflect on this coming Canada Day.

I for one will not be attending any celebration of Canada Day this year.  I’ll probably engage in discussions among my peers and family about this issue and give a toast for the good things this nation stands for.   Then I’ll take time to enjoy the music of indigenous artists like Robbie Robertson or Buffy Sainte Marie while I take a moment for those lost children whose fate we must all bear some responsibility.

 Background links:

John A –   Residential Schools –   Genocide –

US Genocide –     Burning Churches –    Cancelling Canada Day –

O’Toole on Canada Day –    Canada Day –    Records –

Indian Act  –    Indigenous History Makers –