Thoughts on Being Canadian
Canada Day hits differently this year. In years past its always been about fireworks and how great we are — how welcoming, how peaceful, all that “with glowing hearts” feel good messaging.
Over the last few decades though the ugliness of Canada’s history has begun to bubble to the surface, specifically as it pertains to how Indigenous peoples were treated during colonization and confederation.
The Aboriginal Justice Committee that came from the shooting of J.J. Harper by a police officer in the 1980’s, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2008 to 2015 that looked into the ongoing impact of the residential school system, and the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry that began in 2016…all of these initiatives shed light on Indigenous issues in Canada.
It felt like Canada shrugged, acknowledging there was work to do but not proactively mobilizing to work with Indigenous communities. Meanwhile the decades of inaction spurred Indigenous people to organize and protest — to make their voices heard.
And then just recently ground penetrating sonar identified hundreds of bodies buried in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school. Then more bodies at another site. In total over 1000 unmarked graves across 4 residential school sites have been identified so far. All in the lead up to today…Canada Day.
Being Canadian: Immigrant and Indigenous
My Dad was born in St. Eustache, Manitoba, into a Métis family. The Métis people are the product of early European colonizers having families with Indigenous women. This gave them unique skills that allowed them to be considered useful in the fur trade and they thrived, eventually organizing around their own identity. They were mainly hunters relying on buffalo hunts, and the push from Upper Canada was to establish agriculture settlements in what is now Manitoba.
As part of an agreement to allow Manitoba to become part of what would eventually be Canada, the government provided “scrips” to the Métis— promises of land at some future time. Unscrupulous people who had knowledge of where the growing railway would be built convinced many Métis to sell their scrips and many did, relegating Métis communities to the edge of cities or in rural areas (Roostertown by Peters/Stock/Werner provides a great view of one of these communities). They were a people without a homeland, with European settlers given prime farming areas. In one case a group of Métis came back from their buffalo hunt to find settlers had taken over their homes, all granted by the government of the time.
My Mom was born around Roblin, Manitoba to a blended family of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. One side came from Austria in 1902, the other in 1907 from Poland. Both families were farmers, as were many immigrants to Manitoba who have shaped the agricultural landscape of the province. These were people who were looking for a new life, new opportunity, and somewhere for their growing families to thrive. They likely had no idea of the plight of Indigenous peoples, or were told the prevailing narrative of the day which wouldn’t have been favourable.
So here I am, with one foot Indigenous and one foot Immigrant; part conquered and part conqueror.
Canada Day — Cancel or Celebrate?
What do we do with Canada Day, a day that for one segment of the population feeds a national view of peace, love, acceptance, tolerance, and prosperity and for another defeat, segregation, forced poverty, and anger? How do we reconcile the good of Canada with the ugly.
And let me be clear — its not events in the past that we’re reconciling, its current events or very recent history. The last residential school closed in 1996. There are still 32 communities with long term drinking water advisories. Canada still has the Indian Act, a set of laws specific for status Indians. Many remote reservations, at least in Manitoba, have no year-round road infrastructure — you either fly in during warm months or leverage a “Winter Road” that’s just ice/snow in colder months. Indigenous inmates make up 28% of the inmate population yet Indigenous people make up only 4.3% of the Canadian population. I could go on…
Given we know all this and we have a greater understanding of how generational forced poverty, neglect, and racism have affected current generations of Indigenous, I can’t see Canada Day as being one of celebration.
I also think back, through history, to my Canadian ancestors. I think of Adam & Johanna Dobranski and Lazarko & Anna Yaciuk leaving Europe for the great unknown of Canada in the early 1900s with nothing but determination to make the most of their opportunity in a new world that offered so much optimism.
I think of my Pe-Pere, Napoleon, who worked at a concrete factory to provide for his large family. While they were poor, he understood the value of education — he would make my Dad read the front page of the newspaper before he was allowed to skip to his beloved sports section. It was by chance that Napoleon won a lottery and with that money, although they lived in poverty, he sent my Dad to university where he would become an accomplished Native Studies historian and teacher.
And I think of Louis Riel, the great Métis hero and father of Manitoba. Imagine loving your people so much and wanting them to thrive in a new world being forced on them that you’d agree to exile in exchange for their prosperity?
Everyone I just mentioned — they all had a view of a future that was prosperous, that their children would have opportunities to succeed, that they would be safe, that they would not want. I think of my children and what Canada will look like for them. Will it be a place welcoming of Indigenous, of immigrants, of people from all creeds, orientations, and religions? Will it be a place safe for women and girls? Will it finally live up to the branding we’ve sold the world?
I don’t think we should cancel Canada Day, but I don’t think we should celebrate. We’re not in a position to pat ourselves on the back and continue our delusional self-press clippings. We have issues and we have work to do. Today is about reflection but also action — what will I do to make things better? What will you do to make things better? If we move that needle, if we make this country we profess to love so much better, then maybe next year we can actually point to something to celebrate.
This is our opportunity to shape the Canada that we want. Today I will celebrate the potential I see in our future, but I will mourn what we have done to get to this point.
