Canada Committed Genocide Against the First Nations People Its clear that Canadas first Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonalds policy of starving First Nations to death in order to make way for the western expansion of European settlers meets the criteria of genocide under the CPPCG. Similarly, the entire residential school system also passes the genocide test, in particular if you consider the fact that the Department of Indian Affairs, headed by Duncan Campbell Scott, deliberately ignored the recommendations of Peter Bryce, Canadas first Chief Medical Officer, regarding the spread of tuberculosis in the schools. Such willful disregard for the basic principles of public health constitutes an act of genocide by omission, if not deliberate commission. Finally, we have the very recent and painful memory of forced removal of First Nations children from their families by Indian Agents which occurred in the 1960s, also known by the popular term Sixties Scoop. This is an act of genocide that clearly meets the CPPCG test, and also fell outside of the residential school system. We hold that until Canada as represented by its government engages in a national conversation about our historical treatment of the First Nations; until we come to grips with the fact that we used racism, bigotry and discrimination as a tool to not only assimilate First Nations into the Canadian polity but engaged in a deliberate policy of genocide both cultural and physical, we will never heal. The fact that Canadas Aboriginal peoples have not been wiped out, and are indeed growing in numbers, is not proof that genocide never occurred, as some would have us believe. The historical and psychological reality of genocide among our Aboriginal communities is very much alive and a part of living memory. The sooner we recognize this truth, the sooner both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians will be able to heal from our shared traumas. -Bernie Farber, Human Rights Advocate, The Huffington Post Canada source: huffingtonpost.ca/bernie-farber/canada-genocide-first-nations_b_4122651.html What Canada committed against First Nations was genocide. -The Globe and Mail theglobeandmail/globe-debate/what-canada-committed-against-first-nations-was-genocide-the-un-should-recognize-it/article14853747/ -D
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 10:03:47 +0000
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