And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 18:28:19 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Coincidences
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Brantford Ontario
Expositor 4/13/99
INTERESTING COINCIDENCE
By Expositor Staff
Life is full of interesting coincidences.
On Friday, for example, two articles appeared in The Expositor, one on the
front page, one on the
back, which speak volumes about the changing relationship between Canada
and its native people.
The front page story was a report on the visit by the Rt. Rev. Bill Phipps,
the moderator of the
United Church in Canada, who was at New Credit.
He was there to discuss his church's role in the system of residential
schools which were created to
educate native young children but which all too often became, as Phipps
pointed out, places where
these children were stripped of their religion, their culture and their
language.
It was a classic case of paternalism, of "white father knows best." In the
19th century, when many of
these schools were set up, the dominant notion was that it was the white
man's burden to elevate the
aboriginal peoples of the world and that the best way to do that was to
immerse them in the white
man's civilization.
But a lot more than educating went on at some of the schools. Discipline
sometimes was harsh, with
beatings inflicted along with English lessons; and, even sadder, some
residential school residents
were sexually abused.
The churches are trying hard now to make up for the sins inflicted in their
names in the past. It may
not be possible, as the moderator pointed out, to reach out to every victim
of this horrible past, but
the church is trying to build a stronger future for native people by
investing in the development of
today's native communities.
That's the first story. The second, which appeared on the last page of the
paper, was a little item in
the Flashback column. Under the heading 25 Years Ago, it reported that "Sam
General of R1
Ohsweken was picked on Monday as the first Indian to serve on a jury in
Ontario."
It is hard to believe that as recently as 1972, when the Jurors Act was
revised, that natives did not
have the right to participate at the elementary level in the Canadian
justice system. But it shows, in a
very simple way, that the paternalism that gave rise to the residential
school system of the 1800s was
still in full flight in the latter half of the 1900s.
Just how much of it will persist into the 2000s is an open question.
However, the christening of the
new territory of Nunavut two weeks ago is a concrete sign that paternalism
is gradually giving way to
empowerment for Canadian natives.
Some of the harshest critics of the creation of Nunavut have compared it
South Africa's apartheid
system, in which areas were roped off for the use of the members of a
particular race or tribal group.
But there is a profound difference between the South African system, which
relied on force to
coerce people into artificially created territories with no power, and the
creation of Nunavut, which is
essentially a recognition that these Inuit are entitled, and perfectly
capable, of administering their own
affairs in their own homeland.
The creation of Nunavut may not have much of an impact on the day-to-day
lives of most people
living in Canada, but it is an example of the efforts made in recent years
to undo centuries of hurt
inflicted on Canada's native people. There is still much to do, but at
least we have turned down the right road.
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks, Creator
of the Manchurian Candidate
born New Brunswick
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
