Under the Rug
In the wake of 751 unmarked graves discovered at a Catholic-run residential school (forced assimilation/re-education camp) in Saskatchewan, Monsignor Owen Keenan lamented to his parish that nobody was “thank[ing] the Church for the good that was done.”
Canada has built an international image as do-gooders, without regard to the nation’s historic & ongoing violence against the original inhabitants of this land.
This isn’t ancient history. How many Indigenous inmates are residential school survivors?
Each unmarked grave represents not just the individual life lost, but an entire generation.
The state and Church (various denominations) were complicit in genocide. It’s premature to discuss reconciliation without a proper reckoning IMHO.
The toxic cocktail of colonialism + white supremacy + Christian hegemony has done a number on the whole planet.
My ancestral homelands were rendered hostile to my parents by these forces, which led to them settling in Mississauga, ON.
I think a lot about the overt and subtle discrimination my parents endured as landed immigrants. Their struggle was distinct, but not unique. And I am cognizant that our presence entrenched settler colonialism and resource theft from Indigenous peoples.
I probably wouldn’t exist without Canada, so there’s that, I guess.
But it does a disservice to gloss over the nation’s icky parts while indulging the fantasy of being the nicest people in the world.
I don’t know, shit’s complicated.
Anyone experiencing distress or pain can call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society Crisis Line 24/7 1-866-925-4419