Canada, Too, Faces a Reckoning With History and Racism

Canada has already said enough of illegal aliens entering their country. Funny how Canada use to berate the US for treating illegal aliens as criminals. Now that illegal aliens are streaming into their country they suddenly want LEGAL immigrants. Don't be surprised if Canada also calls on Mexico to pay for a Wall.

'Ms. D’Amour Flute said that for years she went down and stared at the statue of Macdonald as an act of defiance.'

So sweet and sad. Canadians are such a polite, well behaved lot. Imagine if Ms Flute had hired a large truck and just run over the damned thing!

Give me a break. Since when does a culture that could not maintain itself dictate terms to the culture that prevailed? Only in the current world of the baying hounds of political correctness. Modern civilization collided with a Stone Age culture...and modern civilization won. Those who have a problem with that should be required to forfeit their property and redeed it back to the indigenous peoples...it's called leadership by example. Enough with this deliberate program of social deconstruction.

The United States also had a network of Native American boarding schools. From the late 1700s through the mid-1800s, these schools were mostly operated by church groups. But the federal government operated off-reservation boarding schools like the famous Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania from 1878 through 1918. Progressives agreed Native Americans should be educated and acculturated into white society, but they disagreed on how rapidly the process should take place. Reformist progressives led by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Native American educators and Christian organizations, promoted rapid assimilation of children through off-reservation Indian boarding schools and immersion in white culture. Their intentions was good. Other Americans at the time consider Native American genetically incapable of acculturation. Some Native Americans approved of the boarding schools while other opposed them. In 1926, the Department of the Interior abolish the Uniform Course of Study, which taught only European-American cultural values and began replacing the boarding schools with reservation schools. However, only about a third of Native Americas live on reservations today.

Going too far on this - at this rate, there will be no memorials to anyone, all historical sites will be destroyed (I'm sure some are offended by the coliseum in Rome?), and we'll just stay home vs. travel to sites for cultural or historical sight-seeing.

But please, do re-consider destroying the carving on Atlanta's Stone Mountain? It's really spectacular with the light show overlay and would be a huge loss to the area, the park, and the state.

Enough!

There is no point in history for any nation or region where one cannot go and find outrageous atrocities, committed by every race and most ethnic groups. I say this because even the act of scalping one's neighboring tribal leader would seem outrageous today, but 200 years ago was the way things were done.

Black slaves were shipped out across Europe, to many areas of Latin America, and to Asia as well as the US. They were captured by their own people for sale to 'slave merchants.' How is it that we cannot see this, how is it we believe that it didn't happen?

Slavery is alive and well today, and today we have a much better educated and literate populous. Today we know that women and kids are not property (at least in most western nations), that enslavement is wrong in every sense of the word. Yesterday, a majority didn't see things that way. So we just destroy everything from the past? If the answer is no, then it must be no across the board. The NYTimes, nor progressives, have no right to dictate what comes down, what is offensive, or what 'could' be a trigger. It is dishonest at best to claim a statue or historical site is offensive to anyone.

Well, it looks like the shoe is on the other foot.
After all of our northern neighbours had fun (rightfully) poking fun at our undeniably racist president, now have they have the opportunity to recognize one of the own.
Seems like America isn't the only one with a dark past after all.

I have a little sympathy with those who do not want to simply bury our history. I have more sympathy, to be sure, with the feelings of those afflicted, the First Nations and black slaves. So, now what?

A suggestion. Why not - instead of taking some statues down - we put up a new one; right next to the old one. Let the First Nations, for example, choose a great figure from their own history (and there are many) - let them choose an artist of their own to create it.

Then, when the children stand in front of the two - they will never be able to think there is only one story to learn.

Our contemporary greedy 1% crusaders for open borders global labor competition and bigots against not as "hard working "nativist" citizens of all races better be careful about how much they pretend to care about Canada's indigenous people - who were simply among the first victims in North America of the same, recently accelerated process of mass immigration that our 1% are engaged in now. If our holier than thou leaders do too much moral posturing, demonizing of the majority about the centuries ago shoving of the first Native American citizens off their land, down into poverty and into a subservient economic/social position by invading foreign colonizing Europeans, then logical consistency may cause US and Canada's citizens to start to ask precisely what is different morally about our elites NOW flooding our labor markets with "compliant" and "innovative" immigrants (make more $$$ because they violate laws, send jobs overseas) who our political leaders even sneer and threaten us natives with when they predict that their latest recruited waves of colonizing invaders will out number us citizen natives in a few decades.

Did his policies result in genocide as one writer states? Genocide has a specific meaning to deliberately and totally wipe out an ethnic or national group by massacre, i.e.e to kill them all. Is this what MacDonald wanted to do? If not, then the term is not proper to what he wanted.

I have sometimes fantasized about removing children from the homes of avowed bigots in order to help rid our nation of the racism and other bigoted beliefs that are passed on to children generation after generation. Parents who bring their children up to hate and/or discriminate against others because of their skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexual orientation betray and violate the principles upon which this country was founded and so many have fought and died for. They only harm their neighbors by sowing discord and hate. They are arguably unqualified for parenting.

However, as this story demonstrates, removing children to raise them without the bigoted beliefs of their parents is not a feasible solution (or realistic); it only exacerbates the problem by creating a new and understandable target of hate: the government, which mistakenly thought it was doing a good thing in removing and properly raising the children. In short, this story shows not only why any realization of my fantasy would be a mistake, but also why the racist beliefs embraced by Southerners and others will continue generation after generation. Then again, if racism and other bigoted beliefs can be taught, why not un-teach them by creating serious, mandatory educational programs from kindergarten through high school that teach of their idiocies and harms? Of course, nothing will end such hate-filled and hateful beliefs, but a serious federal educational effort would surely reduce them.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a watershed process in our country and the results of this are laid out in the Action Plan that you can google. I am not surprised there is a call to remove statues and change names of our first prime minister. There are new plaques on the graves of others like Canadian poet & government administrator Duncan Campbell Scott involved in the Residential School travesty. This is an important national conversation. We are challenged by the TRC Action Plan to make profound change in how we think about all our relations with each other and with the settler history marked by death and destruction. The intergenerational impact of this history has been devastating. At this moment I live in a city with the largest population of young Indigenous people in the country. As an educator I'm committed to working with others to facilitate their learning and flourishing. What does it mean to honour by naming and memorializing in public art those who caused the destruction of their peoples? For many it is a shameful insult. The future should be nourishing and kind to these young Indigenous people who still experience profound racism.

Also, lots of racial discrimination in Nova Scotia through the mid 20th century.

But Canada should not make the same mistake we are making here in the USA (keep in mind that most of our non-confederate leaders for whom we have erected statues and monuments have similarly horrid records of oppressing native populations). Making a public show of taking down monuments only serves to mobilize bigots, and ultimately to give them voice.

Instead, own the collective past, publicly condemn what was bad, and strive to do better moving forward. Pair the existing statues with history lessons for the current generation.

Reading all these stories I wonder when American liberals are going to start turning to Stanford University to change its name since the school's founder helped fund the genocide of indigenous California Indians and built the university on Indian lands. I wonder whether the liberal academics will throw one of their own under the bus as quickly.

As usual, Trump with his unpolished bluster was absolutely ahead of the curve when he asked whether Washington and Jefferson may be next. It's not that far away.

"He was also a man who, even many of his admirers acknowledge, was crassly racist toward Canada’s indigenous population"

Yes? Seriously, can you name ONE "leading statesman" from the early days of European colonization who was NOT?? Just one? I can't.

There certainly were voices attempting to speak up for the primal peoples - but not one "politician". But even Benjamin Franklin, who made serious personal efforts to preserve indigenous lives- "knew" that these peoples were somehow "lesser" than the exploding European - fossil fuel driven - culture.

I think these issues require deeper reflection. We should distinguish (1) the honored person in their historical context, (2) the rationale of those who erected the statues in their context, and (3) the current symbolism of the statues in our time.

Applied to American confederate statuary, (1) clearly these leader defended the indefensible, and (2) when the statues were erected, the rationale was generally for the white population to intimidate blacks, and (3) today the statues have become totem objects for white supremacists and their retention an insult to all other racists. Three strikes should mean you are out.

In Canada, the situation is slightly different. (1) MacDonald initiated the indefensible, but (2) when these statues were erected, that component of his history had been obliterated and was completely unknown to those who honored him. (3) Today, the majority population of Canadians is slowly learning about MacDonald's role in residential schools, a now repudiated element of our history. It will take a little time for this new understanding to sink it.

In my view, removing MacDonald's name from schools is a wise immediate action--no aboriginal child anywhere in Canada ought to be forced to study in a school named after a man who USED SCHOOLS against that child's parents and grandparents. Statues will take a bit longer, but I predict corrective action will eventually be taken—removed or appropriately re-plagued.

The thing is there is so many of Canadian leaders were bigots -- face it, often their origin was pure WASP with all the prejudices of the day embedded in them - look at Mackenzie King refusing to allow in Jewish refugees and getting them sent back to Germany to their deaths. And let us not even go into Quebec with its many examples of anti-Semitic types, for example Lionel Groulx who has a metro station named after him and who was a notorious anti-Semite -- I remember people complaining about this but to no avail, still honoured there. Not sufficiently "politically correct". So conclusion, First Nations have a legitimate axe to grind but others do too, nobody listening to them.

Just as in the U.S., it may seem that all this is too much, too soon, when in fact it is too little, and very, very, late. Eventually we must confront our racist past in every strand and chard of its disgrace. Whether we take down our monuments or keep them up, we've got to deal with the mess we've made--and its a big mess.

The self-deception in North America over the centuries has been stunning--stealing native peoples' lands and then treating them in horrifyingly inhumane ways, discriminating against people because of their religion or the color of the skin, and more, and more. What in the world made North Americans, or anyone, think they could get away with this forever?

There is no perfect answer, but there is perfect contrition. How does a relatively noble attempt at civilization apologize?

Macdonald is our first Prime Minister and Canadian history will always honor his role in establishing this country. His role in institutionalizing racism in Canada was never a focus until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought to Canadian awareness that our government, politicians, and religious organizations committed significant crimes against our First Nations people. It continues to be a national shame.

I recognize Macdonald's role in forming Canada but he deserves no honor for the genocide he helped initiate. Let history books remember him and public displays of honor be removed.

Problem is, putting all the blame on Macdonald for a residential school program that was confirmed for over a hundred years over various governments is a little bit problematic. Second problem is, by the standards of its time what Macdonald did was decidedly vegan; it's nowhere near what was going on in US with Indian wars and Buffalo Soldiers hunting for scalps. Third problem is, while First Nations are often portrayed as a single block, it is really a very diverse collection of nations, who fought wars, often - very brutal wars, after the European contact.

Canada should probably paint a more realistic picture of Macdonald, complete with his alcoholism and cronyism accusations from the railroad contracts, but he belongs on a 10-dollar bill for a good reason: united Canada was his project, and he managed to pull it off.

Any reason why this article wouldn't mention Justin Trudeau's comments on this?? He did make some...

Of course! His comments wouldn't jive with the NY Times' fawning editorial coverage so it is just easier to leave them out. Instead, make it seem like it is just some Neanderthal Conservative minister who still supports Canada's first PM.

Well, let me help you...here are JT's comments from yesterday:

"I can say, unequivocally, there are no plans by the federal government to change the name John A. Macdonald off of anything in our responsibility."

Canada's residential schools predate both John A. and Confederation by many decades. First Nation leaders themselves pushed for native schooling to be included in the 1867 confederation act. That these schools became very controversial in the cultural genocide lense of 2000's events said to have occurred through 1960's can't be blamed on Canada's first prime minister who died in 1891. In my own province of British Columbia First Nations used to be massively employed in both the forestry sector and fishing sectors. There were no government polices maintaining native culture, but their traditions and languages continued. Then, under pressure from proto social justice warriors, First Nations began to be treated by the Federal Government as victims and, effectively, permanent children. The result has been First Nations unable to participate in mainstream society.

“Things happened back then that should be left alone,” said Mick Smith, bartender. “That is what history is about. It might even make people realize what did take place back then by still seeing the name.”

I have a hard time fully understanding this quote.
Assuming he is saying, lets put the statues the names THE FULL STORY GOOD AND BAD on the table.
I believe Canadians, like Americans, have every right to be proud of their history, as well as , for want of better words , aware of the many aspects, good and bad.
School names, understand the issue a seventh grader might have,
Statues and the Macdonald home, full contextualization and history,
Simplistically, those who understand their past can grow from it.

Hopefully Canadians will continue to demonstrate their adulthood, debate, make changes helping people understand their past, and grow in the future
No reason to hide the past, sunlight is a great cleanser and source of growth.

I was in Fort Frances, Canada two months ago. It's a small town north of the Minnesota border. One young native man told me that in rural Canada, he believes racism is common place. He said of racism in Fort Frances; "Small town, small minds."

But most people I met in Canada seemed sensitive to racial equality. They believe they have achieved greater levels of egalitarianism than we have in the States. They point to their national healthcare system. They look at us, like we're idiots.

So, after all the statues of imperfect people are gone, will our world be a better place?

Scrubbing the racists, the slave owners, the empire builders and the misogynists from our streets may be seen as a first step toward the New Jerusalem. But even today’s heroes may well turn out to be tomorrow’s failures. A century from now (if we last that long) could well see statues erected for the Trumps, Musks or Oprahs.

Better, perhaps, to install plaques by these monuments entitled ‘We Were Wrong’ and explain the error of our ways and to spend our time fixing the important things gone wrong.