Canadians urged to confront ugly truth of residential schools

[Buddhas Hand]

After doing some research on canada's indigenous people it seems this song applies to them as much as it does to australia's indigenous population

When it comes to the treatment of our indigenous population I am so ashamed to be an australian.

[Sugar baby watermelon]

If nothing else, CDC does a great job of illuminating the worst of human qualities. Ignorance, callousness, and sheer selfishness always find a comfortable place in the spotlight here. Just look at this thread.

Anyway, First Nations band rejects $1-billion in first stage of LNG vote. Yeah, natives just want money.

U r not gonna find any encouragement from keyboard bigots here in CDC, u want to see how ppl feel, how they really feel, just come on down to CDC, u will see ppls real colors, such a shame

[-DLC-]

I come from a sheltered little world where everyone got along and we had no differences - we were simply "friends" and neighbours.

In learning of the atrocious way some people have been treated, I just can't even grasp it. The why and the how of it all. Who can treat another human being this way? And children?

Deplorable and I hang my head in shame that some before me thought this was ok. We have come a long way but it's an important part of healing to hear. And it's heart wrenching to do so.

"There were no playgrounds but there were cemeteries. And some children weren't even documented". Kids were not permitted to see their relatives? Stripped naked and beaten? My good God.

I'm sorry. Truly and deeply sorry that this happened.

[etsen3]

No one is saying it was not shameful. There comes a point where this becomes too much. This whole matter has been recognized and apologies have been made for decades.

What I don't like is that this cultural genocide is being treated like real genocide. It is not the same. It is not even close.

Given the atrocities that have occurred throughout the centuries and all over the world, this nations black mark pales in comparison.

Times have changed. Let's move on.

But it's easy for non-natives to move on from something that never happened to them. Many of the victims of residential schools are still alive today. The damage is still there. Many of these people suffer from mental health issues/substance abuse/poverty from the lack of opportunity they had and the issues they faced and it will be harder for future generations to break that cycle.

In order for one to pull themselves up their bootstraps, they must have bootstraps to begin with.

[Heretic]

I come from a sheltered little world where everyone got along and we had no differences - we were simply "friends" and neighbours.

In learning of the atrocious way some people have been treated, I just can't even grasp it. The why and the how of it all. Who can treat another human being this way? And children?

Deplorable and I hang my head in shame that some before me thought this was ok. We have come a long way but it's an important part of healing to hear. And it's heart wrenching to do so.

"There were no playgrounds but there were cemeteries. And some children weren't even documented". Kids were not permitted to see their relatives? Stripped naked and beaten? My good God.

I'm sorry. Truly and deeply sorry that this happened.

The story that got me was the one where the kid hung himself in the gym:

“I remember the one young fellow that hung himself in the gym, and they brought us in there, and showed, showed us, as kids, and they just left him hanging there, and, like, what was that supposed to teach us?”

— Antonette White, recalling the staff at the school in British Columbia forcing the students to look at a suicide victim

[IamHomer]

You and the three five people who +1'd you need to read my sig.

What does inoculator mean, I am a pleb.

[grandmaster]

But it's easy for non-natives to move on from something that never happened to them. Many of the victims of residential schools are still alive today. The damage is still there. Many of these people suffer from mental health issues/substance abuse/poverty from the lack of opportunity they had and the issues they faced and it will be harder for future generations to break that cycle.

In order for one to pull themselves up their bootstraps, they must have bootstraps to begin with.

I am Armenian and we were victims to the genocide inflicked by Turkey in 1915. A real genocide where 1.5 million of my people were killed off in torturous ways. They still refuse to apologize or even acknowledge it, regardless of the obvious evidence in which most of the world, including Canada has confirmed.

I'm not talking about children being taken away and forced into a different culture. We were victims to a real genocide. It bothers me that these people can use this word like they do.

So as a non native, I have more of a right to speak for what I think is fair based on my Armenian heritage. If Turkey had done half of what Canada has done in terms of making amends and acknowledgment, I would be satisfied. Let us move on

[Chalky]

If you are going to make a comment like this, maybe you can explain a little further on what you mean?

I am too close and too passionate about this topic to have rational debate, so I'm officially out. I will clarify my position because it was in response to you, therefore you deserve it.

...after everything our white supremacist country has put them through since Europeans first crossed the ocean, they are still willing to work with and share their land and resources with us.

In my opinion that is a useless statement. Canada is not a White Supremacist country and that argument is just the extreme pendulum example to those who negatively stereotype First Nations. It is divisive and unhelpful, that's my point.

[Lockout Casualty]

I am Armenian and we were victims to the genocide inflicked by Turkey in 1915. A real genocide where 1.5 million of my people were killed off in torturous ways. They still refuse to apologize or even acknowledge it, regardless of the obvious evidence in which most of the world, including Canada has confirmed.

I'm not talking about children being taken away and forced into a different culture. We were victims to a real genocide. It bothers me that these people can use this word like they do.

So as a non native, I have more of a right to speak for what I think is fair based on my Armenian heritage. If Turkey had done half of what Canada has done in terms of making amends and acknowledgment, I would be satisfied. Let us move on

I'll hold back about 90% of what I want to say for fear of Deb and her Hammer of Thor Ban, but as a member of Slavic people, who were exterminated by the Nazis in bigger numbers than even Jews, it bothers me that someone whose peoples went through a genocide can be so dismissive of the reality of the First Nations' situation.

You don't like that they call it "cultural genocide"? How do you feel about the fact that the real genocide took place even before Armenians were massacred by the Turks, on a much bigger scale and longer time frame, and the fact that the only thing left of First Nations today is that culture? Or that they live on small pockets of land in a country that is their invaders'?

Would you be so dismissive if Armenia was populated by Turks and there were a few thousand of you left?

In closing before I get carried away, if Turkey had done half of what European settlers did to First Nations, there would be no Armenia today.

[hsedin33]

Funny I just wrote an essay about residential schools the day before this came out. Since they started the commission so far they've tallied 6000+ children died at the hands of the church run government funded residential schools. The cultural genocide they tried was absolutely disgusting. Aboriginal families deserve a lot more money and a lot more reserve land for a very long time. Btw the last residential school closed down in 1996, although it was not church run at the time. Churches should also have to pay hefty restitution for their direct involvement of the children's deaths.

[grandmaster]

I'll hold back about 90% of what I want to say for fear of Deb and her Hammer of Thor Ban, but as a member of Slavic people, who were exterminated by the Nazis in bigger numbers than even Jews, it bothers me that someone whose peoples went through a genocide can be so dismissive of the reality of the First Nations' situation.

You don't like that they call it "cultural genocide"? How do you feel about the fact that the real genocide took place even before Armenians were massacred by the Turks, on a much bigger scale and longer time frame, and the fact that the only thing left of First Nations today is that culture? Or that they live on small pockets of land in a country that is their invaders'?

Would you be so dismissive if Armenia was populated by Turks and there were a few thousand of you left?

In closing before I get carried away, if Turkey had done half of what European settlers did to First Nations, there would be no Armenia today.

Never said I was dismissive. Where are you getting that from? There is nothing dismissive about it. It was a terrible thing. I must say though if you can not see the difference between a true genocide and what happened to the Aboriginals, then you have issues.

I am also curious why you think Slavic people were more so targeted than Jews. I'm not so sure you know much about history.

[Lockout Casualty]

Never said I was dismissive. Where are you getting that from? There is nothing dismissive about it. It was a terrible thing. I must say though if you can not see the difference between a true genocide and what happened to the Aboriginals, then you have issues.

I am also curious why you think Slavic people were more so targeted than Jews. I'm not so sure you know much about history.

Maybe it's because Germany got all the way to Stalingrad, exterminating Slavs as they went? You are aware that Slavs were viewed as subhuman by the Nazis, right? And policy was to exterminate or enslave? Or that Soviet Union had tremendous civilian casualties, exceeding 10 million? Not to mention Poland and Serbia (both Slavic). LOL @ not knowing much about history. When people like you say that, it brings a smile to my face.

And you don't have to say outright state you're being dismissive, people can read between the lines of comments like, "Let's move on". If that's not dismissive, I don't know what is. I'm sure someone in their 40's and a victim of one of these schools will be all about "moving on".

[grandmaster]

Maybe it's because Germany got all the way to Stalingrad, exterminating Slavs as they went? You are aware that Slavs were viewed as subhuman by the Nazis, right? And policy was to exterminate or enslave? Or that Soviet Union had tremendous civilian casualties, exceeding 10 million? Not to mention Poland and Serbia (both Slavic). LOL @ not knowing much about history. When people like you say that, it brings a smile to my face.

And you don't have to say outright state you're being dismissive, people can read between the lines of comments like, "Let's move on". If that's not dismissive, I don't know what is. I'm sure someone in their 40's and a victim of one of these schools will be all about "moving on".

http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm

Show me how your Slavic numbers come anywhere close to 6 million Jews. You need to be educated.

[Heretic]

Never said I was dismissive. Where are you getting that from? There is nothing dismissive about it. It was a terrible thing. I must say though if you can not see the difference between a true genocide and what happened to the Aboriginals, then you have issues.

I am also curious why you think Slavic people were more so targeted than Jews. I'm not so sure you know much about history.

True genocide? Wow...

"Thus, according to Ward Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, the reduction of the North American Indian population from an estimated 12 million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900 represents a"vast genocide . . . , the most sustained on record." By the end of the 19th century, writes David E. Stannard, a historian at the University of Hawaii, native Americans had undergone the"worst human holocaust the world had ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people." In the judgment of Lenore A. Stiffarm and Phil Lane, Jr.,"there can be no more monumental example of sustained genocide—certainly none involving a 'race' of people as broad and complex as this—anywhere in the annals of human history.""

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/7302

[grandmaster]

True genocide? Wow...

"Thus, according to Ward Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, the reduction of the North American Indian population from an estimated 12 million in 1500 to barely 237,000 in 1900 represents a"vast genocide . . . , the most sustained on record." By the end of the 19th century, writes David E. Stannard, a historian at the University of Hawaii, native Americans had undergone the"worst human holocaust the world had ever witnessed, roaring across two continents non-stop for four centuries and consuming the lives of countless tens of millions of people." In the judgment of Lenore A. Stiffarm and Phil Lane, Jr.,"there can be no more monumental example of sustained genocidecertainly none involving a 'race' of people as broad and complex as thisanywhere in the annals of human history.""

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/7302

We are talking about Canada, not what happened in the U.S.

Thanks for coming out

[Heretic]

We are talking about Canada, not what happened in the U.S.

Thanks for coming out

Yet you bring up the Armenians?

Stop being part of the problem.

It’s clear that Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. MacDonald’s policy of starving First Nations to death in order to make way for the western expansion of European settlers meets the criteria of genocide under the CPPCG.

[grandmaster]

Stop being part of the problem.

Its clear that Canadas first prime minister Sir John A. MacDonalds policy of starving First Nations to death in order to make way for the western expansion of European settlers meets the criteria of genocide under the CPPCG.

What the hell are you talking about? Please stop

[Heretic]

What the hell are you talking about? Please stop

You brought it up. Maybe you should read up on history and learn what genocide really is.

[Lockout Casualty]

http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm

Show me how your Slavic numbers come anywhere close to 6 million Jews. You need to be educated.

Jesus Christ, this is not a competition. And you're focusing on a tangent that has no bearing on the subject. For the record, your link counts 10 million Soviet casualties, if you take out ~3 million Jews, you'll still have 7 million mostly Ukrainian and Russian civilians, both Slavic. And if you count ~3 million Polish civilians you get 10 million. You can drop this now. The point was that if your "level" of genocide beats First Nations, mine surely beats yours. Which is complete and utter nonsense.

American natives are the only ones whose land was taken, treaties continuously violated, children stolen and abused, and culture of those remaining few being wiped out in the "modern" age.

[felixthecat_potvin]

Why are modern Canadians held responsible for what our ancestors did? Yes, the residential schools were bad. Nobody denies that. But how long will we have to give sympathy instead of moving on?