A Complicated Canada Day
Today is Canada Day but I don’t feel much like celebrating. Recent discoveries of the unmarked graves at former residential schools have cast a cloud on Canada Day.
Do not get me wrong, I am not ashamed of being a Canadian. I’m a proud member of the Canadian Armed Forces (not that what I say necessarily reflects the CAF). I can think of no other country that I would want to live than Canada.
For a long time there has been some pride among Canadians. “At least we are not as bad as those countries!” We saw ourselves as the good guys, the country that is compassionate and looks out for others.
I have even heard Canadians comment that we have not struggled with racism like our neighbours to the south. While our treatment of people of African origin has been somewhat different, we are not free of racism.
Our most glaring crimes have been in how we have treated the indigenous people of Canada. There is much that could be said about colonization and treaties but I won’t go into that here.
Just focusing on the residential schools, Canada messed up bad. They attempted to bring unity to Canada by “killing the Indian in the child.” There was a systematic attempt to eliminate indigenous culture. That would be bad enough but it also included horrible living conditions and abuse that resulted in thousands of deaths.
This is part of our Canadian heritage whether we like it or not.
I feel double grief about this as a Christian. As guilty as the government was, so were many Christian denominations. The church and state worked hand in hand to commit these crimes.
Having said that, I still love Canada (and the church). We do need to repent of the crimes of the past. I understand that repenting of something we may not have been directly involved in (I do not know anyone who actually worked in a residential school) is controversial. It may feel unfair. But that feeling of unfairness has nothing on what indigenous families felt as their children were taken away. If repentance moves us forward, so be it.
But this is not just about the past. There is still much injustice concerning the indigenous people in Canada. Many communities are still without clean drinking water, something that would not be tolerated if they were white communities.
There will be times again to celebrate Canada Day again. Hopefully we can do it with a show of progress on how far we have come. There are many great things about Canada that deserve to be celebrated.
I have no intention of telling other people what to do. I will only say that on my part, this Canada Day will be more about reflection and prayer than about celebration. You most follow your own conscience.
Learn more about residential schools here.
