I have recently experienced the awakening of my Canadian identity. And the timing couldn’t be better. Happy 143rd Birthday, Canada!
I’d like to point out here that the number 143 is traditionally associated with the words I=1 LOVE=4 YOU=3; this brings me right back to junior high. But I couldn’t help myself. Numbers speak.
But back to my awakening. Recently, I spent some time in Winnipeg for the World Religious Leaders’ summit. The experience was moving. If you didn’t catch our daily reports from last week, you can see them (and any other past edition of Perspectives daily or weekly) here.
Even though we were working long hours with very little sleep, I remember internalizing many of the encounters with the delegates. Out of all of them, though, I found that my encounters with the aboriginals were especially inspiring.
Like many other young Canadians, I was presented with the early story of our nation. In class, we learned about the Europeans’ quaint arrival (see one version here) and the “welcoming party” that ensued. We learned about the seasonal diets and hunting patterns of “les autotochtones” in the Canada of old. What wasn’t completely communicated in our months of study, however, was the dramatic collision of worlds that eventually gave birth to this great nation.
Canada’s birth was not an easy one. And Canada’s beauty, I’m learning, is intensified with the knowledge of the labour pains that preceded its birth.
On the opening night in Winnipeg, David Courchene of the Anishnabe Nation, Eagle Clan addressed the Summit and told them a little bit about the painful reality of Canada’s aboriginals. He told us about his vision for the future of Canada and the reconciliation and harmony he sees on the horizon. The next day, we were addressed by Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Truth and Reconciliation is a new Canadian initiative whose mandate states that: “the truth of our common experiences will help set our spirits free and pave the way to reconciliation.” Justice Sinclair told us about the residential schools whose primary focus was to “kill the Indian in the child”. His stories were alarming but his approach was admirable. He, like Mr Courchene, looks forward to Canada’s rebuilding; beginning within Canada’s native families.
On the last night of our stay in Winnipeg, we were invited to an extravagant dinner in the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG). Aside from feeling entirely unworthy to be sitting among world religious leaders and some of the most humble spiritual giants I have ever met, we were sitting in a building whose chief purpose was to “remember” and to celebrate the past, despite its imperfections.
On the walls surrounding us, Stephen Harper’s 2008 apology to our nation’s aboriginals was papered on the whole height of the wall in three-foot letters. The display said the following:
Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools.
The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history.
In the 1870s, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools.
Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.
These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, `to kill the Indian in the child.’ Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country. Read more…
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Jenna Murphy| Print This Post |
