Credit: iStock
For many, Canada Day marks the beginning of a fun-filled summer with fireworks and BBQs. However, as discoveries of over several hundred bodies of unmarked graves continue to be found at former residential schools across Canada, many communities are calling to use Canada Day as a day of reflection and awareness of the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.
The continuous exposure of crimes against Indigenous people is not only a remnant of the past, as Statistics Canada reports the rate of police-reported crime is six times higher in Indigenous communities than in non-Indigenous communities. “In 2018, police serving majority Indigenous populations reported an overall crime rate of 30,333 incidents per 100,000 population or about 3 criminal incidents reported for every 10 people living in the community. This represented 133,419 criminal incidents and accounted for 7% of all crimes reported in Canada in 2018. By comparison, police serving non-Indigenous communities reported 5,191 incidents per 100,000 population or about 1 incident for every 20 inhabitants. Crime rates were higher in Indigenous communities across all major crime categories”.
Source: 150StatCan
An Idle No More campaign will be holding an event at the Ontario Legislative Assembly Building in Toronto, to “refuse to sit complacently while this country continues to celebrate its existence while denying its genocide of the Indigenous community” with neighbouring sits located in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Ottawa.
Credit: Idle No More Campaign
With Canada identifying as a first-world country, there is still an abundance of communities that do not have access to clean drinking water and live with boil water advisories. N’Amerind Friendship Centre President Brian Hill underlines the lack of care and support for Indigenous communities “Nobody wants to really look at it, nobody really wants to talk about it. And that in itself really shows how much people don’t really care. It’s that colonial mindset that the original colonizers brought with them. That underlying disrespect for Indigenous people is there, Black people, Muslim people.. It’s there. But it’s only when something bubbles to the surface and pops that people stand up and go ‘that’s so bad, that’s wrong’, but that’s as far as it goes. Nobody wants to look at where it all starts, and why Indigenous people don’t celebrate Canada Day, they don’t recognize it as a celebration time.”
There have also been calls for renaming schools and replacing statues that represent the tragic history of Indigenous peoples, which some consider too harsh. “They don’t want to change the name of schools, they don’t want to move any statues, and then all of a sudden there’s an uproar of ‘why are you trying to erase our history?’ and ‘why are you trying to erase this and that’. That’s exactly what European colonizers were doing when they came to this land.”
For all those who attended and were raised by residential school survivors. We have lived our entire lives under Sir John A. Macdonald’s Indian Act and with the fallout of his assimilation policies. Enjoy this. pic.twitter.com/EX4NoTFJrO
— Terrill Tailfeathers (@Terrilltf) August 29, 2020
“There was an estimate there was 16 million Indigenous people in North and South America at the time of contact back in the 1500s. Today, there’s like 6 million. What does that tell you? That’s probably the world’s biggest genocide there is, but nobody wants to call it that. Nobody wants to look at how the European culture and their ideas and along with the church, Christianity– that was a big factor in how many Indigenous people lost their lives. There is nothing to celebrate, really.”
London Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians Grand Chief Joel Abram notes Canadians should listen more, and become educated about the treatment and history of Indigenous peoples.
“At this point, there’s enough information out there that’s verified, and finding all of these children’s bodies just kind of double downs on it. I think nowadays, there’s no excuse for that kind of behaviour. A lot of people don’t celebrate because of the history we know to be true. This year, we are asking people to wear orange instead of red and white this Canada Day as a reminder to everyone else about some of the history of Canada. Even though survivors have been saying these stories for years, it didn’t really click in with the Canadian consciousness until all of these unmarked graves and masked graves were found.”
In breaking the difference between activism and performative activism, Abram advises it is important to show support through contacting MPs and MPPs to pressure serious issues involving boiled water advisories, representation in the child welfare and justice system, and to most importantly learn the history.
Alternative ways to spend July 1st in London includes a Turtle Island Healing Walk beginning at 10 a.m. and an emphasis to wear orange to honour the lives of the children lost to the residential schools across Canada. The event will also include speakers, jingle dress dancers, drummers and singers for healing.
Credit: Turtle Island Healing Walk
Beyond the walk, Indigenous communities are calling for non-Indigenous people to continue helping in making a positive impact every day to help the process of reconciliation.
Resources to help:
True North Aid humanitarian support
National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: 1-844-413-6649
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