Racism in Canada : A long drawn problem
People take part in a rally in Toronto, Canada, on July 1, 2021. Hundreds of people gathered here on Thursday to pay tribute to indigenous children whose bodies were found in mass graves near former indigenous residential schools in Canada.
The past few weeks have been heart-wrenching and shocking as 182 human remains in unmarked graves were just discovered near a former residential school for Indigenous children in Canada, while as many as 751 unmarked graves were found at the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan province last week, and 215 Indigenous children’s remains found at Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia in late May.
These three gruesome discoveries once again cast a spotlight on Canada’s handling of Indigenous people and sent shockwaves across Canada and throughout North American Indigenous communities. These discoveries have given fresh evidence to profiling of indigenous communities on racist grounds by the new ruling class in Canada and USA.
Majority of these children, students at residential boarding schools from mid-1800s to mid-1900s, died after having suffered brutal abuse and neglect. Its widely reported that for decades, Indigenous children in Canada and United States were sent to boarding schools, where they were forced to adopt Euro-American culture.
For those living in willful ignorance of this tragic truth, what has happened to Indigenous peoples in Canada must have made for a rude awakening.
Unfortunately, Canada’s history is “stained with the blood” of Indigenous children. According to conservative estimates from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, from the 1880s to as late as 1996, approximately 4,100 to 6,000 children died amid abuse and neglect in the residential school system, whose aim was to “take the Indian out of the child”. But there was no policy for the burial of children until seven decades later in 1958. It remains a mystery that how many more graves there are in the country and how many more Indigenous children died from harsh mistreatment during the process of forced assimilation.
Tragically, the indigenous women have been a victim of deliberate and systematic abuse. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, coerced sterilisation of Indigenous women took place in federally operated hospitals, as sterilisation legislation in Alberta (1928-72) and British Columbia (1933-73) limited the reproduction of “unfit” persons, and increasingly targeted Indigenous women.
The practice continued into the 21st century. Approximately 100 indigenous women have alleged that they were pressured to consent to sterilisation from the 1970s to 2018. All this data points to a shameful legacy that continues to inform about every aspect of generations of Indigenous peoples.
It lurks in the everyday life of First Nations communities with no water fit for drinking, no adequate sanitation, no proper housing and education.
It lurks in the mental life of Indigenous people, who are scarred with identity crisis, shame, anger and suicidal thoughts. Between 2011 and 2016, First Nations peoples experienced a suicide rate three times higher than that of the non-Indigenous population of Canada. In some Indigenous communities, the suicide rate among youth under the age of 15 is almost 50 times greater than that of the non-Indigenous youth.
It lurks in hospital wards and emergency rooms where Indigenous peoples have been mocked, berated and rejected.
It also lurks in Canada’s law enforcement where an Indigenous person is more than 10 times more likely to be shot and killed by the police than a white person.
It lurks even in Canadian government building where Indigenous politicians do not feel safe and often face “racial profiling” by the security. “People like me don’t belong here in the federal institution.” Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, the New Democrat MP for Nunavut, voiced the frustration and anger of the 1.4 million Indigenous peoples across the country.
Indigenous lives matter. Apology is not enough. Reconciliation will never be realised with assumed humbleness. The Canadian government must make some real tough decisions to compensate the Indigenous victims and their families, to fundamentally relieve their plight, and to eliminate the “systematic racism, discrimination, and injustice” against them.
Canada and other western countries do not spare an opportunity to lecture other countries about their glorious traditions, past and present credentials about human rights. However, the treatment to Indigenous people in Canada lay these claims very hollow.
Canada and other routinely take a shot at India handling of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir where millions of Muslims live in harmony with other ethnic communities in. The fact is that Election Commission of India has been holding regular periodic elections as per law and there has been tremendous economic progress, goes unnoticed.
Ambassadors and parliamentarians of many countries have visited the State and complimented the Government. Canada and every other Country must remember that Jammu Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain.
It is Pakistan which must voluntarily give up the illegally occupied portions of Kashmir or POK as it is called. In any case one day it will be taken back by India, even if it requires military force.
Canada has also been poking its nose into Indian laws passed by the Indian Parliament. This shows that the Government of Canada has no understanding of these laws which pertain to Indian Citizenship and Indian Farmers. Indirect Canadian Government Support has also been extended to another terrorist movement in India that is the Khalistan Movement.
How will Canada react, if we Indians start supporting a separate French Speaking Country with Quebec as its Capital.
The instead of poking its nose into Indian affairs, Canada must concentrate in healing the wounds of it’s indigenous people for the ill treatment in last two centuries. It must address their genuine grievances about security, health and education, employment and other rights. Then it would be better placed to join debate about global human rights.
