Canada
Day action in Ottawa, one of many across the
country, as Canadians from all walks of life
joined the Indigenous peoples in demanding
accountability from the federal government.
A truth of the Residential School System and
its brutal legacy is being revealed in gruesome
detail. First there was the May 27 announcement
by Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Chief of the
Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Nation of the discovery
of the remains of 215 Indigenous children in
unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian
Residential School. Less than a month later, on
June 24, Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess
First Nation announced that 751 unmarked graves
have been found in a cemetery in Cowessess near
the former Marieval Indian Residential School.
This was followed June 30 by the
announcement by the Ktunaxa Nation located near
Cranbrook, BC of the discovery of 182 unmarked
grave sites adjacent to the former St. Eugene's
Mission residential school.
And this is only
the beginning. According to former Chair of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Murray
Sinclair, there may be upwards of 25,000
children who died while attending the 138
residential schools that the Canadian colonial
state operated between 1870 and 1996; and there
may be still more Indigenous children who died
after being forcibly removed from their homes
and communities and sent far away to attend
regular schools. The enormity of the crime of
what Canada's residential school policy and
practice meant for Indigenous peoples demands
reparations as determined by the Indigenous
peoples themselves. It must start by providing
whatever resources are needed by Indigenous
peoples to heal from the trauma of the
Residential School System as already stipulated
by them.
It is to be expected that the Liberal
government, whose job it is to perpetuate the
present constitutional order in the name of high
ideals, would refuse to accept the
responsibility for crimes committed in the name
of Canada in the past. Apologies are words of
sympathy, carefully worded to make sure nothing
is justiciable -- that the government cannot be
held legally responsible in any way. The
Government of Canada's defence of the
constitutional order means that the crimes
established on a racist and anti-people basis to
defend private property in the past more than
150 years continue in the present. It is up to
the people to end the present day colonial and
racist approach to decision-making.
Even in the face
of what truly became a national day of mourning
on July 1, in which Canadians from all walks of
life joined the Indigenous peoples to condole
their losses and share their grief, the Prime
Minister was calling on Canadians "to reflect on
our country's historical failures," and "be
resolute in confronting these truths in order to
chart a new and better path forward." "[I]f we
all pledge to do the work -- and if we lead with
those core values of hard work, kindness,
resilience, and respect -- we can achieve
reconciliation and build a better Canada for
everyone," he added.
The Prime Minister continuously speaks
ambiguously in the name of Canadians in a
personalist manner. It is a device by which he
seeks to insinuate himself into the feelings of
the country without the Canadian state having to
take any responsibility for the consequences of
the crimes committed in the past and which
continue to be committed in the present.
He calls on the Pope to apologize for the
crimes committed in the residential schools and
come to do so on Canadian soil, as if that is
what will repair the damages of past and present
or that a visit from the Pope is what Canadians
need. It is a pathetic diversion when what the
Indigenous peoples are asking for is that the
churches release and stop destroying whatever
names and information they have. Is the
Government of Canada going to enact some sort of
measures which force them to do so? That is not
even posed as a way to go. Meanwhile government
officials, the cartel parties which form the
government including the opposition, and the
media focus all their attention on actions which
they feel no compunction about labelling
criminal, like the burning of churches or
toppling of statues.
All the while, media give a rendering of
history which never includes the decisive role
played by the peoples in humanizing the natural
and social environment and opening the path to
progress. They claim "there are good things and
bad things which have happened," or which an
individual like Sir John A. Macdonald did, and
"we must take the bad with the good and
acknowledge that overall it is good." This way
of dismissing the concrete reality in the
present to evade taking any responsibility is
insidious, and designed to perpetuate the status
quo in which the peoples are deprived of the
decision-making power.
The Prime
Minister concluded his Canada Day message by
repeating the campaign slogan of U.S. President
Biden and the international financial oligarchy
to "Build Back Better." "This Canada Day, let's
recommit to learning from and listening to each
other so we can break down the barriers that
divide us, rectify the injustices of our past,
and build a more fair and equitable society for
everyone. Together, we will roll up our sleeves
and do the hard work that is necessary to build
a better Canada," the Prime Minister said. It
merely underscores the cynicism of the ruling
class based on their false ideological belief
that they are beyond being held to account.
It is not surprising that the Prime Minister
ended his message saying, "From my family to
yours, happy Canada Day." No matter what the
likes of such people say, it was not a "happy
Canada Day." It was a day of national grief and
mourning, a day where the people of all origins
joined with the Indigenous peoples to pledge
that they will see justice done.
Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy
Superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1920, is to
this day celebrated as the "Poet of
Confederation." His poetry presented Indigenous
peoples as "a vanishing race," and he explained
the policy of the Anglo-Canadian state as
follows: "I want to get rid of the Indian
problem. That is my whole point. Our objective
is to continue until there is not a single
Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into
the body politic and there is no Indian
question."
The truth is that this aim has not changed. The
aim of the state is the same today as it was in
yesteryear: to rule over the multitude, impose
the aim of the holders of private property on
the society, and keep the demands of the people
in line with those aims. Nothing else is to be
tolerated and persistence in fighting for a just
cause is to be made a criminal offence.
It Will Not Pass!
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 7 - July 4, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/M510073.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
