Couple things to lay down here before I go into my short rant. I am not religious, in fact the quote below in my mind almost describes how I feel to a tee. HOWEVER saying that I do believe there is something, a higher power that created the world. Or at least started evolution... Be it the Catholic god, the Muslim god. Odin, Zeus, the Great Spirit. I really don't know. I am not getting into deeper beliefs on religion, gods, fate. Any of those things that could turn into a long tangent I am simply going to talk on the Pope being here. I just want it stated I am not Catholic. I am Metis, I have great uncles who did attend residential schools. I won't pretend I am close with them or even really know them. I have heard their stories through my grandfather though. I have some close friends who also had parents who attend these schools and yes for a part it has affected their lives, I will not deny that.
First I want to state a fact, these schools were not a genocide. What the conquistadors did to the Aztecs, that was genocide. They slaughtered them out of existence. The settlers and founding fathers of Canada did not murder the natives out of existence. Saying that, what they did was not right. The did try to erase a culture. Or more exactly wanted to brain wash "savages" into being white. So yes they did try and kill a culture, they did not try to kill a people. Also these mass graves and stuff are wrong. When these children died, their parents should have been notified. The child in all honesty should have been given back to the family to be dealt with in their ways. Not just vanished. I want to be 100% clear though these graves AREN'T death camps. People got sick, people died. No one was being gassed or lined up and shot and dropped into pits. I really bothers me that this is how many people and of course the media are portraying it. Did awful living conditions contribute to it, likely. For that yes we should be ashamed, for how they were dealt with after we should be horrified. Did Canada murder millions, no. While this is clearly the worst black mark on Canadian history please stop trying to compare it to the holocaust. I am going to say here though a cultural genocide is extremely brutal as well. The whole point of the school was to "whiten" the kids up and get rid of the "savages" in a way that wasn't straight out murder. The sad thing here is we lost so much. So much culture. Art, Language, tradition. We go out of our way now in Canada to make sure every culture is accepted and sadly we went out of our way to destroy the first culture that was here. Also it did create so much trauma......
Why in fuck is the Pope here? The man had NOTHING to do with this system. The funny not funny thing is the Catholic church is taking the blame for what the Canadian government did. I hate Justin Trudeau, that is a fact that is pretty easy to tell, this statement doesn't even go back to that hatred though. His family, his "great" father was part of the system that kept this going!! The dude was PM during the time of the 60s scoop. So ya Justin should be showing big crocodile tears and apologizing (not that he means it. He has not been a friend to first nations people in his terms. Just paid them lip service.) My point is in reality this mother fucker has a way bigger and direct connection to the system than the pope ever did. If you want the truth, I am betting the Pope had 0 idea this went on. Dude was a bouncer and a janitor in Argentina at one point and seems to have spent a lot of his life in South America. Do you truly believe he had any clue about what was going on in Canada? Just gonna say it, if you do your dumb. This is a Canadian problem that our governments both Cons and Libs let go on way too long. I am not saying the church is innocent at all. Thy ran these school and yes if people can be found and brought to trial they should. These school went into the 90s so my guess is there is still people who could be tried and should be tried! That would be real justice, not having a man give an apology so something he really wasn't part of. Thats like the CEO of Ford apologizing for someone killed in a drunk driving accident because Ford made the car the drunk drove. So flat out no I don't agree with the Pope apologizing it is the Canadian government that did the harm...
How do we make it right? This isn't a problem you can just throw money at. (Most problems actually aren't I am learning.) I mean you can hand out a bunch of cheques and say there fixed but it won't be. People will waste it. Not all of it and not everyone but it is human nature to waste money. Have you never got a little extra and ended up spending it maybe where you didn't mean? Point being do something useful. The issue is the trauma? How about the counselling is covered. Not just psychological but substance abuse as well. If we are ever going to fix this we need to deal with the real issue not just lip service a sorry and hand out some cash. Issues need dealt with at the root, not just a bandaid and "sorry here is a cheque" is simply a band aid. ALSO rebuild. The point of those schools was to get rid of the culture, well time to rebuild. Put money into educational courses teaching true history, teaching the culture that was lost back to the people. Make people proud of who they are again. I know that is a vague statement but this is brief blog. We need to undo the trauma and try and rebuild what we tried to steal or erase. That is actually reconciling.
I also want to speak on generational trauma for a minute. There is an end to it. I know having lived through those nightmares scar a person. I am willing to bet those scars can bleed down However there is an end. We can only blame so much on generations before us before it becomes a running joke. The truth is my Metis status is almost a joke. 1/8? I know it is not a direct comparison but if the actual trauma was that long ago I don't believe it carries as much weight. Also the vets of the world wars had extreme trauma. PTSD that went undiagnosed in many. It bled onto their families as well but generations later we are not blaming our woes on that..... I am willing to give up my status if that means we can get things back on track and not blame the past for current issues....
Need to end with a though about David A Robertson's article for CBC. That this tragedy isn't Indigenous history but Canadian history. No shit champ.... Now every Canadian needs to walk the path of reconciliation. WTF does that even mean? I didn't do anything wrong. No one I know did either, so unlike the pope I will not accept blame. Do I feel bad, yes. Do I believe somethings should be done to make this right, ya I already stated that. Beyond that not my issue. I will treat every person equal and fairly, had that happened in the first place we wouldn't even have this issue beyond that though, I am done.
I WAS DONE, but a few more thoughts came to me as I edited and listened to a couple podcasts......
FIRST we need to fix the system. This won't be popular but 2 nations cannot exist in one country. We will never have a fair system an equal system with two nations. First I have heard it said a millions times by a million people "Natives get everything handed to them." Its not wrong, they do get a leg up and as long as that happens their will be racism. You can't hand one group something and not another and expect people to be fine with it. The system trying to do something good is leading to more racism. Now I am not saying pull all native rights or funding. In fact probably not in my lifetime. Give it 2 generations. A deadline that people know is coming. Do it slowly and maybe somethings like hunting rights and other rights that directly come from culture are kept. We go out of our way to protect other cultures so no different for this. Thats a simple start. Also it is over and over reported substance abuse is higher in this culture and education is lower. That needs corrected. Instead of homeless shelters (This can be fore everyone) We need more rehab. I am not a defund the police person but I do agree we need more social programs and this will help for sure. To me what we need again is to start at the core, these issues won't go away with an apology from a man who didn't do anything we need bigger real change. No more lip service from Justin or any government but real actions.....
Final thought is on MMIWG. Every month I pic a random charity and donate to it. I decided after various podcasts and such I would donated to something to do with MMIWG. Quick google search and lots of info but beyond that nothing. Type in cancer and there is a never ending stream of charities. MMIWG is a real issue so why is it so hard to donate to? I think change would need to come from real action (Duh) but I mean real change as in overcoming missing white women syndrome. It is true, if a white woman goes missing the media and police jump into action quicker. Do you want the truth, even if it is brutal??? There are less white middle class female in high risk life styles. There I said it, sorry if it is rude. One thing I have heard over and over (Specially in podcast about MMIWG and Canada) poor home life. NOT ALWAYS! I am not saying that is the rule but it happens. For example on Dark Poutine a tragic murder of a teenage girl (MMIWG) by her cousin happened after her mom talked to her on the phone while she partied at 3 AM. WHAT?! Okay we all did it. We snuck out, we partied we did stupid shit. NOT with permission. Had I called my mom at 3 from a party at 16 I would still be grounded. I am not a parent but to me this isn't right. Or hearing about parents supplying drugs or liquor to their children, wha? I get fine maybe a party at your own home supervising some kids and keeping them there but letting them go run wild?? Bad shit happens! We have bad people! I hate to say it but these stereotypes do have some basis and that is why the media, the police are so shitty at responding.... They SHOULD be much better I do not deny that. I am not giving them an out I am saying true change for a better world comes from true change. I guess my whole thing right now is this has gone on for way too long. Too much tragedy and sorrow have happened and we STILL aren't doing the RIGHT things to solve it. I do want things made better but I the pope saying sorry won't fix anything. Throwing money won't fix anything, we need real change
Sometime when I have proper time to blog I will post a better article.....
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