I highly doubt that people who came and continue to come to Canada are looking forward to experiencing Indigenous life. They are coming to Canada because they find Western civilization superior to the alternatives and the best option available. Let’s face it, they are NOT coming for Turtle Island. It is high time to stop apologising and teach respecting Canada.
Besides, the Indigenous way of life was far from the utopia it is being portrayed as. While I am certain it had its utilities and virtues, as many ancient tribes and civilizations did, they also had slaves, practiced sacrifice, took over other Indigenous tribes' land which involved bloodshed and so on.
Although it may be appealing to some, it is not my cup of tea - I'll pass.
What taxpayers give to Indigenous people: “Indigenous spending continues to rise as a proportion of the federal budget: From 6.1 percent in 2019-20 to 7.7 percent in 2026-27: That’s a staggering $74.6 billion or $41,444 per Indigenous person, is an increase of 26 percent in seven years, and shows no sign of that slowing down.”
What we get called in return: “Colonial settler genocidal trauma-inducing land thieves!”
Seems the natives are restless on the Rez lately and it's not white man's fault, according to a new APTN Investigates. "Inside The Band Office". Doesn't sound much like the utopia being described before first contact!
Watched this the other day. For those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC2F7Srx3Dc An APTN doc about the Peters First Nation (near Hope) denying membership to some of its own, so that it doesn’t have to share revenue from sources like the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. Peters FN (total membership 188) has lost multiple court challenges over this, but the family holding control of the band council continues in power, and they want to restrict membership to individuals they know will keep voting them back in. Apparently, in such a small community of voters, as few as two dissenting votes could oust them (if I'm understanding the documentary correctly).
I read that too. The band council threatened to sue the RCMP unless they dropped their investigation. No guesses needed for what the RCMP did. More on that in today's APTN.
I thought compulsory education for Indigenous started in 1920 but was not enforced. As a teacher of Indigenous students in the 1970’s my class would delete before Spring and no one ever returned.
Are we not to believe that children were turned away because of limited space? Are we not taught that IRS evolved into a place where the federal government could place abused children at the expense of children from good families?
I appreciate this series but have difficulty in believing many of the comments in Episode 5.
The Residential School victimization industry is lucrative and they will keep saying that everything is the fault of the 'colonialists' to keep the money flowing to them.
They will not look in the mirror for the source and souion to their problems.
It's easier to go through life blaming others for your problems.
Here’s what’s seldom mentioned with respect to indigenous parents being “forced” to send their children to school: No doubt there were some who were reluctant, but the real “compulsion,” at least for conscientious parents, was the realization that if they kept their kids home, they would almost certainly fall behind and have fewer opportunities than their peers.
It’s been acknowledged over and over again that indigenous parents wanted their children to get an education; that said, it’s also true that many parents and grandparents were not happy with the (probably unanticipated) effects that education had on their offspring.
Students came home with an expanded worldview after exposure to different ways of living and thinking, and many were critical of their families’ disorderly and often dysfunctional lives. It’s there in all those survivor memoirs. They had become accustomed to a more structured environment and a focus on goals – goals that weren’t likely to be met on the reserves. So of course there were conflicts and crises, and ultimately many returning students left the reserves. The rejected families blamed their “changed” kids, or blamed the schools for changing them. Therein lay the seeds of resentment and negativity about the schools – NOT in stories of abuses suffered by individual students (which, we’re told, nobody talked about anyway).
Students who’d had a bad experience at the schools, and maybe an even worse experience trying to make it in life afterwards, for decades blamed their parents, either for having made them attend the schools, or for the conflict and chaos that came after. So it was a balm to their souls when the narrative changed and they were encouraged to believe that the schools were to blame for everything, and that their parents were faultless victims just as they were.
I highly doubt that people who came and continue to come to Canada are looking forward to experiencing Indigenous life. They are coming to Canada because they find Western civilization superior to the alternatives and the best option available. Let’s face it, they are NOT coming for Turtle Island. It is high time to stop apologising and teach respecting Canada.
Besides, the Indigenous way of life was far from the utopia it is being portrayed as. While I am certain it had its utilities and virtues, as many ancient tribes and civilizations did, they also had slaves, practiced sacrifice, took over other Indigenous tribes' land which involved bloodshed and so on.
Although it may be appealing to some, it is not my cup of tea - I'll pass.
What taxpayers give to Indigenous people: “Indigenous spending continues to rise as a proportion of the federal budget: From 6.1 percent in 2019-20 to 7.7 percent in 2026-27: That’s a staggering $74.6 billion or $41,444 per Indigenous person, is an increase of 26 percent in seven years, and shows no sign of that slowing down.”
What we get called in return: “Colonial settler genocidal trauma-inducing land thieves!”
"Canada is a land of great opportunity."
Amen. The developed democracies are the freest, wealthiest, best countries in human history.
Seems the natives are restless on the Rez lately and it's not white man's fault, according to a new APTN Investigates. "Inside The Band Office". Doesn't sound much like the utopia being described before first contact!
Watched this the other day. For those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC2F7Srx3Dc An APTN doc about the Peters First Nation (near Hope) denying membership to some of its own, so that it doesn’t have to share revenue from sources like the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. Peters FN (total membership 188) has lost multiple court challenges over this, but the family holding control of the band council continues in power, and they want to restrict membership to individuals they know will keep voting them back in. Apparently, in such a small community of voters, as few as two dissenting votes could oust them (if I'm understanding the documentary correctly).
I read that too. The band council threatened to sue the RCMP unless they dropped their investigation. No guesses needed for what the RCMP did. More on that in today's APTN.
I thought compulsory education for Indigenous started in 1920 but was not enforced. As a teacher of Indigenous students in the 1970’s my class would delete before Spring and no one ever returned.
Are we not to believe that children were turned away because of limited space? Are we not taught that IRS evolved into a place where the federal government could place abused children at the expense of children from good families?
I appreciate this series but have difficulty in believing many of the comments in Episode 5.
The Residential School victimization industry is lucrative and they will keep saying that everything is the fault of the 'colonialists' to keep the money flowing to them.
They will not look in the mirror for the source and souion to their problems.
It's easier to go through life blaming others for your problems.
Thanks again, Igor.
Here’s what’s seldom mentioned with respect to indigenous parents being “forced” to send their children to school: No doubt there were some who were reluctant, but the real “compulsion,” at least for conscientious parents, was the realization that if they kept their kids home, they would almost certainly fall behind and have fewer opportunities than their peers.
It’s been acknowledged over and over again that indigenous parents wanted their children to get an education; that said, it’s also true that many parents and grandparents were not happy with the (probably unanticipated) effects that education had on their offspring.
Students came home with an expanded worldview after exposure to different ways of living and thinking, and many were critical of their families’ disorderly and often dysfunctional lives. It’s there in all those survivor memoirs. They had become accustomed to a more structured environment and a focus on goals – goals that weren’t likely to be met on the reserves. So of course there were conflicts and crises, and ultimately many returning students left the reserves. The rejected families blamed their “changed” kids, or blamed the schools for changing them. Therein lay the seeds of resentment and negativity about the schools – NOT in stories of abuses suffered by individual students (which, we’re told, nobody talked about anyway).
Students who’d had a bad experience at the schools, and maybe an even worse experience trying to make it in life afterwards, for decades blamed their parents, either for having made them attend the schools, or for the conflict and chaos that came after. So it was a balm to their souls when the narrative changed and they were encouraged to believe that the schools were to blame for everything, and that their parents were faultless victims just as they were.