I really enjoyed this article. One of the issues is that BOTH the left and right have lost any ability to doubt their narrative, and have safe zones of "grey", where thinks aren't black or white--literally and figuratively. Now, when I came to Canada in 1970, I faced quite a bit of racism throughout the 70's. Being called "paki" was so common, it became normalized. On the flip side, not to excuse any of the racism, but this is a Judeo-Christian country. Even my mother, now 82, finds it offensive that you can't put up a Christmas tree. You can still cherish Canada for its openness and still honour traditions which are only happy and bring light to all. Even if I didn't celebrate Christmas, what harm does it do when someone wishes me that? They are communicating their festiveness to me. Likewise, if someone wished me a Happy Hanukah or Happy Diwali. I think conversations like this are far more nuanced, and articles like this help facilitate better conversations.
Mr. Best has written a thoughtful and important analysis of the past and the present relationships between the Indigenous peoples and the 'Settlers' . Currently, P.M. Trudeau and Minister Marc Miller along with others have created deep divisions where none need exist. Back in December 2022, Trudeau spoke to the assembly of chiefs in Ottawa and outlined a litany of his perceived offences that we 'settlers' are guilty of. ( See it on You Tube) Mr. Miller on the other hand has done everything he can to intensify the anger that has been created over the 'mass graves' and Residential Schools issues. He, along with other elected officials, have ignored the facts presented in detail by researcher Nina Green who sent details about the 'outcomes' of all the Kamloops children which she sent to each federal MP and to every MPP in B.C. Mr. Best's remedies need to be listened to and acted on otherwise the growing division between the Indigenous and 'Settler' Canadians will become more and more difficult and harder to solve.
". . .elites-driven, race-based, political, social, and constitutionally-enshrined model which is inherently crude, backward, divisive and illiberal. ." Bravo!! That is exactly what's happening on the US left as well. Thank you for countering that insidious trend with this beautiful ode to Enlightenment values. I grew up in different parts of the US as a military brat in the '70s, and apart from the Protestant versus Catholic divide which had faded by then, there was a remarkably similar sense of progress toward social equality. My Mexican American classmates in New Mexico and my African American classmates in Virginia lived with vestiges of segregation just as my family told stories of "no Irish allowed." While we knew there were differences of degree in our struggles, we did not believe they were differences in kind. We were not inherently oppressor versus oppressed. We still aspired to be one nation, proudly pluralistic and multicultural, united by our Constitution. That view is being systematically destroyed across the English speaking world by a self appointed elect that has been brainwashed by neo Marxist dogma. Thank you for raising your voice of reason against the mob ideology that threatens to destroy the vision so many have died to uphold. We won't go down without a fight.
Good article Peter. I grew up in a small community in southern Ontario in the same time period which, comparatively speaking, had the same core of positive community values of which you speak. We had indigenous children in our schools who assimilated quiet naturally with the rest of the kids and I don't recall any racially based issues. Our Principal, strangely enough, was indigenous, a fact that very few of us realized at the time or could have cared less. He was good at his job and that is all that mattered. What I do remember, comparatively speaking, was a very strong and inclusive history program that emphasized the role of Joseph Brant and the Mohawks during the American war of independence. Their contribution then, as well as during the war of 1812, in securing and establishing Canadian sovereignty, did not go unnoticed by any of us at that time and was a significant inclusivity factor in how indigenous students were positively regarded in our school.
I can not help but think, all these years later, having seen the erosion of the Canadian history curriculum in our schools that such a serious omission is a glaring factor in the divisiveness we now experience.
Canada is one of the few countries in the world that fails to properly educate its citizens on their own history. That this is an impediment and obstacle to the healthy development of a national identity, is obvious. As Professor emeritus, Jack Granatstein once famously wrote, in respect of those responsible for the elimination of Canada history from the classroom:
"that all this thrashing of history and heritage would be destructive and divisive, rather than a uniting force, did not seem to matter".
"We have seen the enemy and the enemy is us " - Walter Kelly, 1970 Earth Day Slogan
We are presently going through another shadow boxing diversionary exercise with a constitutional referendum on 'The Aboriginal Voice' that will produce a whole parallel set of federal 'advisory' institutions for aboriginal 'voices'.
And the irony is that while all this constitutional color and movement is going on, aboriginal remote and outback town camp 'communities' (whatever that means) are convulsing (as a result of suspending 'racist' grog restriction laws) into paroxysms of drunken communal violence and crime sprees that are overflowing into the everyday lives of everyone else around them.....as all the enormously well-funded (but completely useless) aboriginal welfare institutions and ideologically blinded (denialist) state and Federal governments, just stand around and watch, hoping that that the hideous mess they have made will go away when everyone gets too tired of noticing the obvious, and the aboriginal 'communities' get too tired of the aggro and 'go walk about' on Their Country'....or just too pissed to get up and kick the misses in the guts.
Aboriginal women in outback Alice Springs have between 40 to 80 times more chance of being hospitalized from injuries inflicted by their menfolk than any other ethnic group. And that is when things are 'normal'.
Thankyou Peter Best for expressing so eloquently the consternation most of us feel over the direction things are going. The quote you share from Stefan Zweig – “What a man has taken into his bloodstream in childhood from the air of that time stays with him.” -- is so true, and BECAUSE it is so true, it is also particularly concerning.
As adults, we are perplexed because we haven’t forgotten (and aren’t willing to forget) the hope, the beliefs, the optimism you speak of. But what of the children of today (indigenous and non)? Given what they are being taught to believe and to feel, where are they going to find hope and optimism? We’re stoking a mental health crisis in our young people that will indeed shape their future in negative ways. We’re fueling that crisis with rage and resentment and guilt – with what Lukianoff and Haidt refer to as "The Great Untruth of Us Versus Them."
Excellent comments and insights from readers as well; I thank you all.
Wonderful article & I don't understand why our Elites of all races are so blind to Chaplains & Mr Bests vision. It's so logical & sensible ; it's hard to think of these people as Elites if they are so backward thinking.
I really enjoyed this article. One of the issues is that BOTH the left and right have lost any ability to doubt their narrative, and have safe zones of "grey", where thinks aren't black or white--literally and figuratively. Now, when I came to Canada in 1970, I faced quite a bit of racism throughout the 70's. Being called "paki" was so common, it became normalized. On the flip side, not to excuse any of the racism, but this is a Judeo-Christian country. Even my mother, now 82, finds it offensive that you can't put up a Christmas tree. You can still cherish Canada for its openness and still honour traditions which are only happy and bring light to all. Even if I didn't celebrate Christmas, what harm does it do when someone wishes me that? They are communicating their festiveness to me. Likewise, if someone wished me a Happy Hanukah or Happy Diwali. I think conversations like this are far more nuanced, and articles like this help facilitate better conversations.
Mr. Best has written a thoughtful and important analysis of the past and the present relationships between the Indigenous peoples and the 'Settlers' . Currently, P.M. Trudeau and Minister Marc Miller along with others have created deep divisions where none need exist. Back in December 2022, Trudeau spoke to the assembly of chiefs in Ottawa and outlined a litany of his perceived offences that we 'settlers' are guilty of. ( See it on You Tube) Mr. Miller on the other hand has done everything he can to intensify the anger that has been created over the 'mass graves' and Residential Schools issues. He, along with other elected officials, have ignored the facts presented in detail by researcher Nina Green who sent details about the 'outcomes' of all the Kamloops children which she sent to each federal MP and to every MPP in B.C. Mr. Best's remedies need to be listened to and acted on otherwise the growing division between the Indigenous and 'Settler' Canadians will become more and more difficult and harder to solve.
". . .elites-driven, race-based, political, social, and constitutionally-enshrined model which is inherently crude, backward, divisive and illiberal. ." Bravo!! That is exactly what's happening on the US left as well. Thank you for countering that insidious trend with this beautiful ode to Enlightenment values. I grew up in different parts of the US as a military brat in the '70s, and apart from the Protestant versus Catholic divide which had faded by then, there was a remarkably similar sense of progress toward social equality. My Mexican American classmates in New Mexico and my African American classmates in Virginia lived with vestiges of segregation just as my family told stories of "no Irish allowed." While we knew there were differences of degree in our struggles, we did not believe they were differences in kind. We were not inherently oppressor versus oppressed. We still aspired to be one nation, proudly pluralistic and multicultural, united by our Constitution. That view is being systematically destroyed across the English speaking world by a self appointed elect that has been brainwashed by neo Marxist dogma. Thank you for raising your voice of reason against the mob ideology that threatens to destroy the vision so many have died to uphold. We won't go down without a fight.
Good article Peter. I grew up in a small community in southern Ontario in the same time period which, comparatively speaking, had the same core of positive community values of which you speak. We had indigenous children in our schools who assimilated quiet naturally with the rest of the kids and I don't recall any racially based issues. Our Principal, strangely enough, was indigenous, a fact that very few of us realized at the time or could have cared less. He was good at his job and that is all that mattered. What I do remember, comparatively speaking, was a very strong and inclusive history program that emphasized the role of Joseph Brant and the Mohawks during the American war of independence. Their contribution then, as well as during the war of 1812, in securing and establishing Canadian sovereignty, did not go unnoticed by any of us at that time and was a significant inclusivity factor in how indigenous students were positively regarded in our school.
I can not help but think, all these years later, having seen the erosion of the Canadian history curriculum in our schools that such a serious omission is a glaring factor in the divisiveness we now experience.
Canada is one of the few countries in the world that fails to properly educate its citizens on their own history. That this is an impediment and obstacle to the healthy development of a national identity, is obvious. As Professor emeritus, Jack Granatstein once famously wrote, in respect of those responsible for the elimination of Canada history from the classroom:
"that all this thrashing of history and heritage would be destructive and divisive, rather than a uniting force, did not seem to matter".
"We have seen the enemy and the enemy is us " - Walter Kelly, 1970 Earth Day Slogan
We are enduring the same crap in Australia.
We are presently going through another shadow boxing diversionary exercise with a constitutional referendum on 'The Aboriginal Voice' that will produce a whole parallel set of federal 'advisory' institutions for aboriginal 'voices'.
And the irony is that while all this constitutional color and movement is going on, aboriginal remote and outback town camp 'communities' (whatever that means) are convulsing (as a result of suspending 'racist' grog restriction laws) into paroxysms of drunken communal violence and crime sprees that are overflowing into the everyday lives of everyone else around them.....as all the enormously well-funded (but completely useless) aboriginal welfare institutions and ideologically blinded (denialist) state and Federal governments, just stand around and watch, hoping that that the hideous mess they have made will go away when everyone gets too tired of noticing the obvious, and the aboriginal 'communities' get too tired of the aggro and 'go walk about' on Their Country'....or just too pissed to get up and kick the misses in the guts.
Aboriginal women in outback Alice Springs have between 40 to 80 times more chance of being hospitalized from injuries inflicted by their menfolk than any other ethnic group. And that is when things are 'normal'.
Horrible.
Thankyou Peter Best for expressing so eloquently the consternation most of us feel over the direction things are going. The quote you share from Stefan Zweig – “What a man has taken into his bloodstream in childhood from the air of that time stays with him.” -- is so true, and BECAUSE it is so true, it is also particularly concerning.
As adults, we are perplexed because we haven’t forgotten (and aren’t willing to forget) the hope, the beliefs, the optimism you speak of. But what of the children of today (indigenous and non)? Given what they are being taught to believe and to feel, where are they going to find hope and optimism? We’re stoking a mental health crisis in our young people that will indeed shape their future in negative ways. We’re fueling that crisis with rage and resentment and guilt – with what Lukianoff and Haidt refer to as "The Great Untruth of Us Versus Them."
Excellent comments and insights from readers as well; I thank you all.
Wonderful article & I don't understand why our Elites of all races are so blind to Chaplains & Mr Bests vision. It's so logical & sensible ; it's hard to think of these people as Elites if they are so backward thinking.