I’m first generation Canadian. Is it fair that I should pay for the sins of your great grandfathers when mine weren’t even in the country? Canada accepts 300k immigrants per year. Since the closure of the residential schools, (very roughly speaking) 9m people have entered the country so it’s not a small number we’re talking about here.
There’s also the added issue that not everyone supported the residential schools. What if my ancestors protested the system? Should I still pay reparations?
I agree the quality of life on the reserves is a real problem that needs to be fixed but pushing the blame on the children of the settlers (or not even their children!) is not a good solution.
One outcome of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report (published 2015) was a proposal made for a change to the oath of citizenship to clarify this responsibility[1]. That change has now been made. It was used for the first time on June 22[2]. Hopefully this will help new Canadians to better understand what becoming a Canadian means.
There is no intention here to assign guilt. There is simply an understanding that as Canadians we have a responsibility to the indigenous peoples of the land that we now inhabit.
[0] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/co...
[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/ne...
[2] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/ne...
How do you actually pay reparations for taking someone’s land?
That said, I'm not sure how useful the point is. I've very rarely heard a native person say they would like that. I have heard that proposed, usually drunken and angry over beer. When I was a kid my dad had the Chief of Couchiching First Nation over for dinner. In my 17 year old wisdom, I eagerly explained how sad it is that natives don't want to go live in Toronto. He said, natives would love to be in Toronto, if Toronto was a little more like a reserve. I think they have unfortunately long accepted they've been colonized, the treaties were not honored, and their culture was destroyed. Meaningful reparation at this point is unlikely to be about land or money, it's about Canada accepting it cannot be Canada without real change to re-incorporate the culturual growth that was strangled.
My version of that story was when the Chief of the Peter Ballantyne First Nation came to visit us. I spent the first couple years of my life on the PBFN. I was about your age and had the same questions about how great it would be if they moved to my city. he explained that on reserve, he can just be a man. He can be good, he can be bad, he can make mistakes and he can have successes. In a city, it doesn't matter what he does, he's just 'a fucking Indian.' If he makes a mistake, he's a 'dirty fucking Indian'. If he has success, he's a 'fucking Indian sucking at the teet'.
I also remember him cracking a joke. "Do they know this isn't India?" :)
I've never heard a proposal to give back the land unless people have been sipping. And I say silly stuff too when I sip so who can judge. The most radical idea I've heard outside of those settings is to treat current lands as sovereign nations that have an equal standing with the rest of the nation. The goal seems to be peaceful and respectful coexistence.
I think we can all (or at least should all) be able to get behind that. Wouldn't peaceful coexistence be a pretty amazing way to live??
This isn’t as radical as you may think. It’s been a stated goal for a long time. I’m always surprised how the actual meaning of these words don’t seem to make any impact on Canadians. Perhaps phrased another way, such as, “When I have an Ojibway passport…” might catch people’s’ attention.
Weirdly, in the Canada of today, that’s considered extremely radical. But it’s also considered radical to think First Nations should have clean drinking water.
If you’re interested in one heck of a read, learn about a Cree Chief named Big Bear. He quite literally saw into the future - I think his words make him one of the few genuine political visionaries of his era in Canada.
If you’re or anyone else is interested, I have a bunch of books. My email address is in my profile - some of these books are hard to find and I’m privileged enough to be able to afford them. I’d be happy as anything to mail them out to anyone interested, provided you give them wings and give them away to someone else. :)
The Canadian Crown made solemn promises in the form of treaties. Either Canada stands by a promise, or it doesn't. We are all bound. If you don't feel you should be held to a Canadian promise, you might reconsider your conception of being Canadian.
But they did cash their inheritance checks.
> The Canadian Crown made solemn promises in the form of treaties. Either Canada stands by a promise
What about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_the_Acadians
My Dad was in the RCMP. I was born on reserve and spent a large part of my youth on and around reserve. My Dad did some bad things and his uniform is certainly not absolved of guilt. A lot of my privilege came because of his job. It's quite sad to know how much I've benefited from white privilege and this entire awful system.
I will happily pay for what happened. My privilege is as obvious as oxygen and I have gained tremendous advantages as the result of an awful system. I will happily pay, never stop paying and advocate until I'm blue in the face. Worst case scenario, we might change some minds. Best case scenario, we might change some worlds.
Thank you friend - you're a wonderful person and I genuinely appreciate this support and fellowship. I just saw a press conference where they announced 751 possible graves in Cowessess. That's 751 missing Kookums and Mooshums...:(
I really needed to read your words.
> I will happily pay for what happened. My privilege is as obvious as oxygen and I have gained tremendous advantages as the result of an awful system. I will happily pay, never stop paying and advocate until I'm blue in the face. Worst case scenario, we might change some minds. Best case scenario, we might change some worlds.
Are you willing to give-up your father's inheritance?
The Indian Act is a truly messed up document with all these clauses that ultimately remove status from people. I'd be incredibly happy if they removed it, provided it was replaced with something designed by Indigenous people for Indigenous people.
I'm from Saskatchewan where an almost unbelievable number of people believe Indigenous people pay no taxes. That's not true at all but that sure fuels a lot of racism. Under the Indian Act, a person with status does not pay federal income tax on any money they earn on reserve. Some reserves have almost no opportunity so it ends up being a hollow benefit. I figure we have to either teach non-Indigenous people how the Indian Act really works, replace it entirely, build strong economies on reserves or extend the tax free status to any employment in Canada.
I love the idea of integrating Indigenous culture and health practices into our system and making them available for everyone. The First Nations University of Canada is a start. Sadly, if you watch the press conference in an hour, the Chief of the Cowessess First Nation (Cadmus Delorme) graduated from FNUniv, was heavily involved in their students association, hosted Prince Charles and Camilla when they were here a decade ago and then worked in Student Recruitment. It is a wonderful place...
I'd also like to see a more interesting path for Indigenous kids who are being released from the criminal justice system. In my city, when kids are released, one of the biggest programs teaches them how to be short order cooks and dishwashers. That's fine, but it ignores that some of these kids are absolutely brilliant and can do so much more. We could have art based programs, tech based programs, teach them OSCP or any of a wide variety of possibilities. But it's pretty hard on a kid to go from making $1,000 a day selling drugs to $12 an hour slanging french fries. I think if our system acknowledged their talent and potential the world would only get a little better.
I'd also love if they expanded Gladue factors in criminal justice sentencing, as well as started using more traditional Indigenous forms of restorative justice. Sentencing circles for example are not 'going easy' on crime. They're hard on crime but in a way that's distinctly Indigenous and that fits in with their entire culture, religion and belief system.
On a more personal level, I wish that everyone in Canada was as open about referring to colonialists as their forefathers as you are. Right away, just that small bit of personal responsibility could change the tone of dialogue.
And finally, honestly friend, your reparations idea will be unpopular, but you are 100% correct. It's necessary...