A powerful symbol, but will there be action to back it up?

[morgan_dhu]

So The Canadian government has finally, formally, fully and respectfully acknowledged the deep and damaging consequences of the decades-long policy of family separation and forced integration of aboriginal peoples, the cornerstone of which was the Indian Residential School system, and apologised to Canada's Aboriginal peoples on behalf of both the government and the people of Canada.

It was a powerful moment. All business of the day in Parlianment was set aside, so that only the speech of the Prime minister, the responses of the leaders of the opposition parties, and finally the voices of selected representatives of the major organisations of Aboriginal peoples would be heard in the House this day.

It was an emotional moment. Many of the politicians appeared to be profoundly affected. Many Canadians, Aboriginal and otherwise, have been quoted in the media since, saying that they were touched, that they choked up, that they cried, that they felt some kind of visceral response to the public naming and owning of one of our greatest national shames.

It was a deeply symbolic moment.

But I can't help but wonder what's coming next. We have acknowledged the stolen children, but we're still trying to avoid returning the stolen lands, still fighting land claims. We set up a racist system of reserves and did our best to force Aboriginal peoples who would not assimilate the way we wanted them to, to become a marginalised people living under a paternalistic governance that eroded self-confidence and self-reliance. We allowed conditions on those reserves to fall well below the minimum health and safety standards of any other part of this country, to the point where many aboriginal communities live in substandard and often unhealthy housing, have no safe drinking water, have no local industries where people can work and no recreational facilities where young people can play and learn. And on it goes. The list of injuries committed against the native peoples of this land we call "ours" is a lengthy one.

We have apologised. For some of what we've done, anyway.

When do we start making meaningful, long-lasting amends?

Comments

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

One would hope that new Canadians are just as conscious of the meaning of justice as other Canadians, particularly since many of the members of immigrant communities have had and continue to have their own demands for justice.

After all, our immigrant Chinese population waited a long time for apology and restitution for racist immigration policies including a special poll tax to be paid by immigrants from China. I don't think many Aboriginal Canadians would begrudge the Chinese their deserved amends.

Recent immigrants may not have been here when the residential schools were operating in ways that harmed Aboriginal Canadians, but they are now living in a country that still doesn't provide adequate living conditions for the very people it gives little choice to but to live in those conditions.

I think that the idea most people have of social justice is that it should apply to everyone. Many immigrants, especially those from developing nations, have their own grievances with racist policies and attitudes in Canada. Working together with other racialised and marginalised groups to obtain justice for all is in their best interests.

It's my experience that people who attempt to divide those seeking justice against each other may also be intending to conquer - or in this case, to maintain a system of multiple oppressions.