We need an annual National Day of Remembrance where we acknowledge the death of children in the Canadian Residential and Industrial School system. The numbers of those deceased has not been fully accounted for and there will be more grisly discoveries.
#cdnpoli #ableg #yegcc
#cdnpoli #ableg #yegcc
Some of these children were fetuses due to rape, some were due to starvation, or medical experimentation. Some to straight out murder or to suicide in moments of dark desperation and despair.
No child should feel alone. No child should be forgotten.
No child should feel alone. No child should be forgotten.
We need to acknowledge that we have barely scratched the surface of our history, a history that Indigenous, Métis 7 Inuit families carry with them & that is ongoing in the Child Welfare system.
To acknowledge this slow attempt at genocide.
That is the first step to our healing.
To acknowledge this slow attempt at genocide.
That is the first step to our healing.
Consider that there are generations of children who survived this system of horror & dehumanization, who witnessed these things & came away with unimaginable trauma.
The generational effect of this evil stares us in the face daily yet rarely do we consider those betrayals.
The generational effect of this evil stares us in the face daily yet rarely do we consider those betrayals.
This is a root indication of systemic or institutional racism.
Do you live with the experiential fear that the State might one day come for your children, that they may legislate your starvation & destruction?
If you are Indigenous this is always a hovering threat on the edges.
Do you live with the experiential fear that the State might one day come for your children, that they may legislate your starvation & destruction?
If you are Indigenous this is always a hovering threat on the edges.
But in some cases a reality.
Clean water, forced adoptions, untreated trauma and mental illness, funding per capita re: education (ironic), and so on.
There is another reality in Canada that we can’t easily wrap our heads around and no wonder - we don’t know the history here.
Clean water, forced adoptions, untreated trauma and mental illness, funding per capita re: education (ironic), and so on.
There is another reality in Canada that we can’t easily wrap our heads around and no wonder - we don’t know the history here.
These are things no one likes to talk about, to teach about, to admit to. There is a fear that people today will be held responsible for the actions of the past. But there is also a fear that the actions of the present will be seen in the full light of day.
It’s far easier to blame people for being broken than it is to confess that our country broke them in our names.
Having said that, I am incredibly proud of the strength of Indigenous, Métis & Inuit people today. Not only have these generations survived, but they have also in many wonderful ways thrived despite the incredible challenges put in their way.
We have a bright future, but only if we are not afraid of the light.
We have to learn to walk together. This is a great land filled with great people. We owe it to ourselves, to seven generations past, and to seven generations forward to finally get it right.
Hiy hiy.
We have to learn to walk together. This is a great land filled with great people. We owe it to ourselves, to seven generations past, and to seven generations forward to finally get it right.
Hiy hiy.
(Some folks are pointing out Orange Shirt Day or National Indigenous Peoples Day - I am thinking of something that doesn’t tie celebration and cheering to such a sobering reality. I feel that we tend to retreat too quickly into positives & platitudes when faced with starkness)
I have seen Elders recount their necessarily “child friendly” versions of of their experience of Residential School, and then moments later someone else coming up and getting kids hyped with cheering and applause. Whatever we are doing here, we’re doing it wrong.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
