This Canada Day is like no other I can remember. The graves of all those children -- recently and soon to be discovered -- make this a somber day. There is so much we didn't get right. Martin Luther King said that "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." There is so much to do.
Image: The Guardian
12 comments:
I don't know whether I should mourn or celebrate the demise the fantasy.
Any country's history has its dark past, John. What matters is the ability to come to terms with that past.
The problem is too many want to rewrite history so that some things become nonexistant. Every country has warts,but we should try to make sure we learn from the mistakes of our fore fathers.
That's the reason we study history, Muttsy. Unfortunately, we are sometimes blind to that history.
This should be a sombre day for all Canadians, Owen. So many unmarked graves, so much desolation. We all have to make this as right as we can.
I agree, Lorne. We can't sweep this under the rug.
I don't think it's possible to write events out of history. Once something is down in the books, it's very hard to change, even when the history is wrong. Our American friends, for example, will tell you that the US became independent on July 4, 1776, although nothing of historical significance happened on that day.
As for Canada Day, it wasn't even celebrated for most of our history. Diefenbaker was the first PM to start making a big deal of what was then called Dominion Day, and it didn't really catch on until our centennial celebrations in 1967. So if this year's Canada Day is a bit low-key, well, that's the historical norm.
Cap
We must respect First Nations and their sadness regarding all their lost children. I am not out tearing around as Albertans are apt to do on Canada Day. We Neither am I against flying the Canadian flag today. Not like those people who found it necessary to tear down a flag from a building in Nova Scotia. Flag owned by Garth Turner.……oh no….no Tory here either. Anyong
Happy Canada Day, Owen! I heard Justin on the CBC this morning listing all the great things we've accomplished, beginning with our successful vaccine campaign. I was willing to give him that until he came out with his second laurel - the magical fight against climate change. The hypocrisy was galling especially coming from the Pipeline Kid.
We've been rocked by the residential school graveyards, a century of cultural genocide. Many of those who wound up in the religious equivalent of pauper's graves fell victim to bad nutrition and sometimes non-existent medical care. Others who survived endured sexual assaults, beatings, etc. Some of these deaths might have risen to the level of manslaughter. More, I suspect, would amount to criminal negligence. It doesn't matter. These children, and their parents, were horribly abused and our governments, Liberal and Conservative knew but chose to look the other way.
As a kid, I don't recall Dominion Day as a huge celebration, Cap. Perhaps my memory is slipping.
We have reason to celebrate our good fortune, Anyong. But we must remember those whose fortunes were much different than ours.
That's precisely the point, Mound. Our governments chose to look away.
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