Everyone sort of loves Canada, or at the very least has very few bad things to say about Canuck Nation. Her people are all pretty friendly, intelligent, make some mean maple syrup, and they rule the sport of hockey. I lived there for 4 years, and it’s a lovely place. However, Canada’s got a dark side as well. I was completely ignorant of Canada’s history with the Native Canadian population (and pretty much its history in general), so it was shocking to read that the Canadian government in the 1920s forced Native children between the ages of 7-16 to attend residential schools that were “dedicated to eradicating the languages, traditions and cultural practices of Native Canadians…“ It gets worse, though: “Children were forced to leave their parents and were harshly punished for speaking their own languages or practicing their religions.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Canadian government “has admitted that sexual and phsyical abuse in the schools was widespread.” The schools were opened in 1920 and only began shutting down in the 1970s, so we’re talking about 50 years of the children of an entire race being forcibly assimilated, harrassed, punished, and abused. Not surprisingly, the schools have been linked to “the widespread incidence of alcoholism, suicide and family violence in many native communities.” Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, apologized to Native Canadians last week, and the government took other steps, including a C$1.85 billion payout to surviving students, to start to make amends.
I guess I shouldn’t be shocked considering that Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren forcibly removed thousands of Native Americans from the South in the 1830s following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, Chicasaw, and Cherokee tribes were all relocated to the West, mainly to Oklahoma. The Choctaw were the first to go, after being coerced into signing a treaty giving up their land. One of the Choctaw leaders remarked:
“We as Choctaws rather chose to suffer and be free, than live under the degrading influence of laws, which our voice could not be heard in their formation.”
A Choctaw Chief said that the removal had been “a trail of tears and death.” Out of the 15,000 members of the tribe who were removed, approximately 5,000 died on the long journey, which was undertaken in the winter and for which the US Army did not bring enough food or supplies. The Cherokee were removed in 1838, and out of 17,000 who were forced West, about 4,000 died. The Cherokee called their route “Nunna daul Tsuny” or “The Trail Where They Cried.”
I don’t know why I thought that Canada would be any different. I guess people are just bastards everywhere.
Upon seeing the Choctaw removal, Alexis de Tocqueville said:
“In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn’t watch without feeling one’s heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving their country. “To be free,” he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We … watch the expulsion … of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples.”
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June 25th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Ha! Canada does have some human rights violations after all!