If there is one thing I am thankful for in my line of work, it is the opportunity to experience so many facets of Canadian culture. Over the years, I’ve been to feasts for saints, powwows in First Nations reserves, Malanka celebrations, attended Filipino Christmas festivities and so much more. I see people connecting with their roots, history and culture, and I have respect for the beauty and pride in that.
Across the country, millions of people from various backgrounds will be joining July 1 Canada Day celebrations, planned to be a bigger spectacle than most years as it marks 150 years since the British colonies united into one Dominion of Canada. In St. Paul, it’s also a 50th anniversary celebration of the incredible efforts of the town forerunners to put St. Paul on the map, by building a UFO landing pad with the laudable goal of promoting universal acceptance.
But it would be remiss not to acknowledge that for others, July 1 is not a day of celebration, but a day of lament, for 400 years of colonization and repression of First Nations and culture. The state of First Nations communities – particularly northern communities - in Canada should shame us all, as data from spring of this year shows about 150 First Nations communities don’t even have access to clean drinking water, the most fundamental human need.
“This is a Canada of broken windows in tarpaper shacks,” wrote Scott Gilmore of Macleans in a recent article describing this Canada as one with an unemployment rate worse than Sudan, where the infant mortality rate is higher than Russia, where the murder rate is worse than Somalia’s and the incarceration rate is the highest in the world. As the case of Angela Cardinal (not her real name) shows, this is a Canada where a woman who is a victim of a brutal sexual assault can be held at a remand centre for five days and forced into proximity with her attacker, just so the court could be satisfied she would show up to testify. This is a Canada where heartbreaking despair leads to 1,000 attempted suicide calls in Nunavut, with a population of just 30,000.
I love my country, but I recognize that we must be honest and see beyond the idealized version of Canada if we are to address its problems. Vancouver is setting an example in this regard in celebrating “Canada 150 +”, recognizing the people that were here before European settlers, and integrating First Nations history and culture into its arts, music and festival events. Reconciliation St. Paul – a collective effort of several groups – did much the same last week here in town, inviting people to take part in First Nations ceremony and teachings, ending with St. Jean Baptiste Day, Multiculturalism Day, and Saddle Lake powwow over the weekend.
While we can learn about the past, we cannot change it. We cannot undo the devastations brought on by the introduction of everything from smallpox to alcohol by Europeans to the first people, the Sixties Scoop, the history of residential schools and more. But we can acknowledge that history, and we can strive to do better.
As we mark Canada 150, we can commit to honouring the various cultures that live within Canada, beginning first and foremost with the indigenous people who have called this country home for at least 12,000 years. We can acknowledge that while the first 150 years since Confederation has seen mistakes and a failure to live up to the promises of the original treaties, that the next 150 years will see this country commit to creating a true nation-to-nation relationship, based on respect, dialogue and action, to create a Canada where all Canadians can flourish.
