Canada’s aboriginal sin
America has been reckoning with the legacy of its “original sin” for centuries. This reckoning has been notorious – and often deadly.
But it might surprise many to learn that Canada has been reckoning with the legacy of its “aboriginal sin” for just as long. This reckoning, however, has been tame and relatively suppressed.
Indeed, it’s easy to see why America’s reckoning overshadowed Canada’s. But that did not vitiate Canada’s dark secrets of racial abuse and shame. And, like all such secrets, it was always only a matter of time before secrets – thought buried and long-forgotten – revealed their dirty heads.
Victims speaking from the grave
Sure enough, Canada has grappled with such revelations one after another in recent years. Here is how the BBC reported yesterday on the latest:
An indigenous nation in Canada says it has found 751 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Saskatchewan. … It was one of more than 130 compulsory boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by religious authorities during the 19th and 20th Centuries with the aim of assimilating indigenous youth.
An estimated 6,000 children died while attending these schools, due in large part to the squalid health conditions inside.
Immediately, one thinks of the serial revelations about child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. But, the reported physical and sexual abuse in this case were even worse. After all, pedophile priests inflicted lifelong traumas on their victims. Abusive teachers inflicted pain and suffering that often ended in death.
I preempted this BBC report in many commentaries. Therefore, I can think of no better take than referring you to “Canada’s Indigenous People – Forcing It to Reckon with ‘Aborignal’ Shame” on December 22, 2016.