Indian residential schools
- Thread starter danmand
- Start date
Absolutely correct,...the problem is though,...those responsible no longer exist,...and anybody alive today is not responsible.
Am I supposed to feel responsible, and have to pay for the undoutably truly disgusting past,...???
Intelligent replies welcome,...all others will be ignored.
FAST
I agree; it is a pathetic part of Canadian history but it has been recognized in the past, an apology given and compensation paid out. I can only try and imagine how difficult it must be for survivor's of the Residential Schools, however whenever it seems to come to the forefront I cannot help but feel that the Assembly of First Nation's activist's still lay blame on today's society for what occurred, and if that is truly their feelings I am totally against that view.
Yeah. I mean, we said we're sorry. Just because we destroyed so many lives and families doesn't mean we actually have to do anything about it. Especially since we've stopped and everything, amirite? After all, the hurdles Natives currently face, both systemic and personal, are much more subtle and less brutal. So what's their fucking problem already?
The Germans will never be off the hook...even the Greeks are now taking a run at them. Seems to be how things work
Who the fuck is WE,...can't you fucking read,...plus the topic has nothing to do with today,...oh I forgot,...you can't fucken read,...
FAST
My mother although born in England after moving to Canada was raised in rural Saskatchewan. I remember her telling me one day some of her Indian girl friends weren't in school anymore. They had been taken to a Residential School. One died there.
Again horrific tales of abuse of all kinds mental,physical and above all sexual that these poor kids had to endure from the fucking pious RC Church!
Again horrific tales of abuse of all kinds mental,physical and above all sexual that these poor kids had to endure from the fucking pious RC Church!
Wasn't that long ago, the victims are still around and still suffering the effects.
I would agree if we were talking about slavery in the US where the crime occurred many generations ago, but like interment you can still talk to survivors, and see the damage that was done to their lives.
"We" would be us as a nation, as performed through the vaguely lifelike automaton we were fool enough to elect to represent us. However, if you would like to withdraw your support for that apology, by all means, let it be known.
I may not be able to fucken (sic) read, but even an illiterate moron knows that the past has every motherfucking thing to do with today. Just because the horrible practice of forcing native kids into residential schools was finally stopped in the not-really-all-that-distant-past, and just because our PM apologised, doesn't magically make all the consequences and repercussions magically go away.
You didn't cause the train-wreck, and everyone who did is now dead, but the wreckage still has to be cleaned up, and the injured survivors still need treatment. What kind of a sad excuse for a human being are you if you just walk away? It is everyone's responsibility to do what we can to put things right, no matter where the blame might lie.
Two things are clear: It is not the First Nations who did this evil; it was done to them. Nor is it over; those children who were abused by that cruel system are now perpetuating that cruelty, abusing their own children, who will grow up to abuse theirs as our schools taught. The society that created that evil system can either commit to cure that sickness — not just spend a bit on band-aids now and then — or suffer its ongoing consequences forever. As our neighbours still suffer from the ills of racial slavery they lack the will to cure.
Blameworthy or blame free, we still own the mess, and no one will straighten it out for us.
TANSTAAFL
Opprobrium is indeed deserved. Yet at the same time there must have been a substantial number of people involved in Indian Residential Schools, who did it because they felt they were improving the children's lives. Further although the mortality statistics are horrible, how do they compare with that of others when the same factors are figured in, since almost all of the deaths were from disease.
Some good points. I would be interested in similar stats for non residential school kids (70 percent of native kids did not attend residential schools).
There were certainly abuses- and we wouldn't do things like this today (thank god) but I was certainly caned in school as a child.
I intend to read the report and the recommendations myself and not just rely on media reports (now that I am mainly retired). The go forward is what's important in my mind.
Same with war deaths; disease runs rampant when people are forced together, under privations, harsh conditions and mistreatment. True of armies for centuries; more true when those victims are children.
When the very foundations of your nation are at stake, that may be a sacrifice you can ask of your people, but this was imposed by force on another people with for the purpose of eradicating their culture and way of life. The residential school deaths were seen as the merely collateral damage, because the well-intentioned — and the evil-intentioned — were doing God's work. It took centuries but we finally realized soldiers don't have to fall victim to disease; we just need to resolve to treat them like people. But we not Indian kids, because the best intention was erasing their 'indianess'.
Genocide was not too strong a word; even Eichmann had 'good intentions'.
It is worth remembering that conditions for "Indians" are still awful compared to other Canadians.
Look at incarceration rates, drug use and HIV infections, etc etc.
The 'cultural genocide' aspect leaves them pretty messed up. The traditional way of life and the languages are seriously almost gone. So now they are left in really poor rez's without a way of living traditionally or the means to integrate into a system they rightfully don't trust. I don't know how you fix that.
Indigenous people in the Americas were horribly treated by the Europeans. Canada's record while far from good is probably better than the other countries in the Americas (North, Central and South).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull
"Sitting Bull refused to surrender and in May 1877 led his band across the border into the North-West Territories, Canada. He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return.[SUP][27][/SUP] When crossing the border into Canadian territory, Sitting Bull was met by the Mounties of the region. During this meeting, James Morrow Walsh, commander of the North-West Mounted Police, explained to Sitting Bull that the Lakota were now on British soil and must obey British law. Walsh emphasized that he enforced the law equally and that every person in the territory had a right to justice. Walsh became an advocate for Sitting Bull and the two became good friends for the remainder of their lives.[SUP][28]"[/SUP]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull
"Sitting Bull refused to surrender and in May 1877 led his band across the border into the North-West Territories, Canada. He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return.[SUP][27][/SUP] When crossing the border into Canadian territory, Sitting Bull was met by the Mounties of the region. During this meeting, James Morrow Walsh, commander of the North-West Mounted Police, explained to Sitting Bull that the Lakota were now on British soil and must obey British law. Walsh emphasized that he enforced the law equally and that every person in the territory had a right to justice. Walsh became an advocate for Sitting Bull and the two became good friends for the remainder of their lives.[SUP][28]"[/SUP]
There are tests now for brain disorders
Finally it gets through your thick scull,...!!!
FAST
Again with the WE bull shit,...,...so now you are apologising for electing a government that was in power when this shit was happening,...I had the feeling you were becoming senile,...now it makes sense.
So apologising for something I had absolutely nothing to do with,...doesn't magically make all the consequences and repercussions magically go away
Finally it gets through your thick scull,...!!!
FAST
It doesn't matter what good Canada has accomplished,...some here have a major hate on for anything Canadian,...don't want to mention any names,...but its obvious who they are.
FAST
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