Those words were delivered on June 11, 2008, by Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he stood in the House of Commons and apologized to aboriginal peoples for the harm inflicted by Canada’s policy of assimilating their children.
The speech was historic. It was simple, straightforward and from the heart. It felt like a turning point.
Listen again.
“The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for far too long. The burden is properly ours as a government, and as a country.”
It was a crack in the door, a shaft of light shone into the painful and largely unacknowledged legacy of the residential schools saga, the demon long locked away in Canada’s closet.
“There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian residential schools system to ever again prevail.”
Harper, like Scrooge, seemed to be looking back and acknowledging the wrongs and seeking redemption so we could all move forward — together.
“You have been working on recovering from this experience for a long time and in a very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey.”
Maybe it really was a transformative moment, not just for aboriginal peoples but for all of Canada.
“The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”
He meant every word of it.
“We are sorry.”
I remember feeling moved. By Stephen Harper.
Maybe he would be the one to lead Canada’s First Nations into full participation in Canada’s economy, education and wealth. There was fresh hope in the air. Harper’s speech captured it, or perhaps, created it.
The prime minister knows as well as anyone that there is no overnight fix for massive social problems inflicted upon people living in rank poverty with dirty water, slum housing, poor schooling, no doctors, drug and alcohol abuse and child neglect.
Not all of it is the legacy of the Indian residential schools policy alone — Canada has more to answer for than that sad chapter — but when you stand before a nation and ask for forgiveness for the suffering inflicted by your people on another, you create a certain understanding that you will listen when those injured people ask for your ear.
Implicit in any apology is a commitment not to repeat or perpetuate the mistakes for which you said you were sorry.
If Harper’s agenda is to transform Canada into a productive resource economy, then he will need more than just access to foreign markets such as China and the natural resources we have here in Canada.
He will also need human resources, healthy, trained, educated workers. We are already experiencing shortages and predictions are that it will get worse. If Harper wants to engineer his resource nation, he will have to make capital investments in this human resource, as with any other resource.
This is an opportunity for Harper, First Nations peoples and all of Canada to work toward that goal, to share the wealth and negotiate stewardship lands, resources and environment. Any good manager knows that you need to get the buy-in of all stakeholders, especially when those stakeholders have treaty rights.
Bullying is not an effective strategy, unless of course, you are a not really sorry for past acts of bullying.
The Idle No More movement is about more than treaty rights and environment protections threatened by the federal government’s C-45 omnibus budget bill. It’s more than hunger strikes and blockades.
This movement comes after the collapse of the Kelowna Accords, painstakingly negotiated to improve health, education and housing conditions, an initiative starved of its promise by lack of funding by Harper’s Conservative government.
And it comes after the many wrenching stories of truth and reconciliation, after the ceremonial burning of tissues soaked with tears spilled by survivors of residential schools, their offspring, and their offspring.
The Idle No More movement is an act of desperation, a plea for action, a last-ditch ask for the ear of the man who said, “We are sorry.”
If Harper wishes to live up to the integrity of his 2008 apology, then he must drop his indifference and listen.
This week the prime minister agreed to a meeting brokered by the Assembly of First Nations on Jan. 11. It will include chief Theresa Spence who has been on a hunger strike since Dec. 11 and calling for a meeting with the prime minister.
This is an indication that the prime minister has heard the pleas of the Idle No More movement and this is a good thing. If he fails to engage with this movement, negotiate, invest and respect the rights of First Nations, then Harper is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
And he will make a mockery of his own sincerity and Canada’s apology to its first people.
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: GAIL LETHBRIDGE
No comments:
Post a Comment