Mass Grave Sites Across Canada to be Surveyed by International Tribunal

reply to post by Flatfish


It is very disturbing when you think of this happening in Canada, and as little as 30 years ago!!! I personally know people who went thorugh this and its crazy that basically no one in Canada knows about this. The governement and the Pope have acknowledged this atrocity and appologized but is that really enough for the survivers? How can any amount of money fix the emotional and mental anguish of the survivers?

A very sad and disturbing piece of Canadian history to say the least.

Thanks to the OP for the post. Star and flag!

reply to post by Gamma MO


How many generations does it take exactly for people to get back on track?!? Several?!? Why that many? I disagree with you there, also, I would like for your source when you say things are getting better. I go to school on a reserve (college) and I can tell you that MY school wasn't paid for, and most of the people flunked out of school...again, not being racist...but, they were all native. The problem isn't with them. It is with our Canadian gov't. You can't give canadians more rights over other canadians...just like throwing money at a problem isn't going to fix it. Have all Canadians with the same rights and it will end any anomisity towards a certain group. Everyone says they want to be equal...but do they get better treatment (almost with kids gloves) than me? (white male). Yes. Stop treating these Canadians like retarded morons and treat them like responsible adults. I do agree that everyone that was involved in that should be strung up and made to pay, but, don't use this horrible tragedy as an excuse for behaviour.

ps- the last one closed in 1996
en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by superman2012
reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

 

I find peoples arguements about genocide hilarious when they are talking about the 1400's to even 1800's. We are more civilized now(?). What happened to these children was horrible. Let's keep the focus on that. History is full of conquering nations who didn't give the ones they conquered gold and spices to go away...they killed them. Everywhere. This thread is about more modern times and the atrocities these kids faced. No one deserved that.
If we want history lessons we can open a textbook.

Yes, let's just forget history because it has nothing to do with us or how we got to this point

I brought up the 1400s and upwards because it has all to do with residential schools. The Americans fought race wars against aboriginals in order to wipe them out. The Canadians chose to assimilate them through residential schools because they knew that they couldn't kill them all and they needed another solution.

Residential schools were indeed a "final solution to the Indian problem". Those responsible felt that if you pull native children out of reserves and raise them by forcing them to learn English language and customs, it would prove better at destroying the native culture than the genocidal tendancies of the past.

It's really important to note that, at least in Canada, the original settlers and natives did coexist peacefully. Then the English capitalist elite saw a lot of potential money to be made in acquiring and selling land, so they came over and used the church as a means to achieve their ends.

Originally posted by Flatfish
reply to post by exile1981

 

Thanks for the Canadian history lesson, I needed it. It sounds a whole lot like what our own government did to the American Indians in the early days, from forcing them into the white man's schools to giving them blankets infected with smallpox. What a disgrace. Also, thanks for the link regarding known grave sites, I'm checking it out now.

Be advised, People of the Americas, they are delivering more than blankets... TODAY they are delivering food that starves entire nations, waters that dwindle the soul, atmospheres of transparent deaths, weather with subsonic enchantments, shattered and barren earths, altered synthetic creations, and skin wakers as our leaders.

Know your brother, outside of yourself, and gather together with numbers, and with renewable sustenance, to relieve the comming gallop of the fourth horseman...

My grandmother was placed in a residential school where she learned to read and write and be a proper christian Canadian. She wasn't physically or sexually abused (from what she told the family at least) but the damage was apparent; my mother's family is very cold emotionally, not a character of cree metis people. When i was a teen i reacted by becoming an atheist because i couldn't be a part of a faith that did this to my family, my mother continued to be a christian, to this day she remains a quiet, cold but loving woman, still strong in her faith...

i don't blame the churches for this, i see them as a tool by state to assimilate the aboriginals as a civilized means to bring a foreign people in line with european society as compared to the US's war on their aboriginals. The whole blame should be placed on the past, we can't continue to live with the pain because those responsible for these decisions are dead and i think it's wrong to continue this drama, as a people, we have to move forward, forgive but never forget.

My grandfather was taken from his family and put into one of these "schools." (I use that term loosely) In his 85 years on this earth, he barely spoke about what he went through. All his children were ever able to get out of him about it was that he, along with his siblings, were removed from their home and placed into one of these schools. His children also knew that various scars on his legs, arms and back were from his time there, but he would rarely speak of exactly how he got the scars, just that it was from his "school time." (I remember a couple on his arm that looked like burns of some kind, but I was young, so who knows?) Beyond that, he would clam up about it. We honestly don't even know his birthname or even where in Canada he was from because when he came to the US, he left that life behind him. (his words)

With all that said, I would like to see the history of these schools brought out into the light of day, instead of barely acknowledged. I also don't see money as a means to fix this. IMO, the best way is to support the enrichment of the native culture in Canada now, accept that they screwed up and lives were lost (disease, abuse, neglect, does it matter how these children died?) and work together with the tribal leaders to ensure nothing so horrible ever happens again.

reply to post by Cheerfulnihilist


Good for you! This proves my point that I was ATTEMPTING to make. If people are motivated and willing to change, then it won't take SEVERAL generations for a group of people to bounce back. Everyone has a hard life. Some people are abused by their parents. It is people's choices that make their life what it is. If you choose not to repeat the abuse cycle to your kids than it is broken, and you give your abusers that much less power. I understand the need for someone to be held accountable for this horrible act. And I do hope your grandmother got an apology at least from the gov't. Some people use the fact that horrible things happened to them as an excuse for behaviour that would get most people thrown in jail. Like I said before, treat everyone equal..I am all for equality.

This really shows what government and the religions are all about.
And worse
ask the old french catholics they have been conditioned to think horrendously that the Abouriginals deserved this.

people wonder why I am so adamantly anti christian and anti government and anti globalist
well here is your sign...

lay off the children you pathetic bozotards
and don't vote in ANY elections anymore
ever.

Originally posted by lynn112
My grandfather was taken from his family and put into one of these "schools." (I use that term loosely) In his 85 years on this earth, he barely spoke about what he went through. All his children were ever able to get out of him about it was that he, along with his siblings, were removed from their home and placed into one of these schools. His children also knew that various scars on his legs, arms and back were from his time there, but he would rarely speak of exactly how he got the scars, just that it was from his "school time." (I remember a couple on his arm that looked like burns of some kind, but I was young, so who knows?) Beyond that, he would clam up about it. We honestly don't even know his birthname or even where in Canada he was from because when he came to the US, he left that life behind him. (his words)

With all that said, I would like to see the history of these schools brought out into the light of day, instead of barely acknowledged. I also don't see money as a means to fix this. IMO, the best way is to support the enrichment of the native culture in Canada now, accept that they screwed up and lives were lost (disease, abuse, neglect, does it matter how these children died?) and work together with the tribal leaders to ensure nothing so horrible ever happens again.

I am sorry for what happened to your Grandfather...as a Canadian I am ashamed of my countries past. The only thing we can do now to make sure this never happens again, is to stop handing money out to the native population and give them a chance to work and appreciate earning for themselves. They need a sense of pride. There is more killing, gang violence, child abuse in reservation living/poor neighborhoods in cities than ever, and with the native population jumping in leaps and bounds, this is only going to get higher. Problems with drinking, gambling, drugs. Not just a native problem at all mind you but seems more rampant in that population. Until we deal with the root problems and try to help these people help themselves, instead of handouts, they will always have problems.

ps-I have been blamed as a white male for introducing them to "firewater", well they introduced us to smoking...what say we call it even.

I guess echoing prior posters laments about the tragic past will not change it or give recourse for the future . I think the answer lies in the statement "the Indian problem" this might be a good read up to the report. www2.brandonu.ca... and a link to the report itself Royal Commission Report on Aboriginal Peoples www.collectionscanada.gc.ca...://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sgmm_e.html
I am not sure what to expect from the UN but I support them to look into it ....The Royal Proclamation of 1763 is considered the Natives Magna Carta ....it is worth a read to see what was agreeed by the Natives by the King to begin with ...www.ushistory.org... peace

Originally posted by Danbones
and don't vote in ANY elections anymore ever.

If you don't vote, you can' t bitch.

If you are vocal about your vision for society, if you join a political party and ensure that your voice is heard from within the process, if you run for office...then you can affect change. I pay my party dues...and I have the ear of provincial cabinet ministers. While one may ask if that amounts to any agency of change...who knows?

But it beats this forum as such.

Always vote...nothing scares a politician like a high turnout.

reply to post by superman2012


Thank you for the apology, but it was not needed. Every nation has sins of the past that should be "owed" to ensure it never is repeated. We all need to learn from it or we are doomed to repeat it. Ensuring the culture of the natives in Canada is the best way to repair this IMO.


PS- My grandfather had a great life here, a large family, a 60 yr. marriage w/the love of his life, a long career that he loved & in the end, he died a very content man. He always taught us that strength came from the family & I think this was because he was denied that as a child himself. I carry that belief with me & make sure my children know how lucky they really are to be surrounded by such a large family/support network.