This Canada Day comes on the heels of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I have been shocked by things I've learned this year. I hadn't thought that there was any colonialism in Canada, but having heard so many voices tell of stories I hadn't known, I do see it now. I understand that you have excellent reasons to feel the way you do about Canada Day. I personally want to see huge changes in Canada and the relations between all our peoples. I hope to see Canada become a place where Aboriginal people are respected and valued. It's obvious that Aboriginal people have a legitimacy and relationship to the land unlike anyone else, regardless of politics and laws. I hope to see that mantle taken up more fully, both as a cultural & philosophical fundament, and as treaty and land disputes to be worked out in an atmosphere of respect (and hopefully we will soon have a federal government actually capable of respect.) Forging a new relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is going to be a new experience. On the one hand, the habit of prejudice lies across the country like a palisade with few entrances, as evidenced by many of the comments on this post. And on the other hand, I have to imagine that many First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, having received the short end of one stick or another for the entirety of Canada's history, might not have a huge appetite to forge links with the non-Aboriginal community. Perhaps it is a process that will happen slowly as our children and grandchildren learn new attitudes and relationships. I hope that people with vision will find a way to lead the rest of us, and I do hope that in your lifetime and mine, there might come a Canada Day when there is a little less pain in your voice, and there might be a change in Canada worth celebrating.
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