apologies may help heal wounds
Harper apologizes for residential school abuse
This was the headline that I read in the news today. Granted, I have mixed feelings and emotions about this bit of Canadian history. Yes, what happened in the past was, and still is, a horrible black spot on our past and it is good that things are being done to smooth things over. While an apology does not make the history go away, it does help the heart heal slowly.
I do find it somewhat insulting when the natives (or First Nations) say "yes, an apology is nice, now give me my $10,000 plus 'affirmative action', totally free education AND subsidized housing to help ease the pain of my grandparents and me not learning the drum dance of my ancient elders, which I really have no use for in todays society". Though it is nice that the Conservative Government has stepped up to take leader responsibility for the horrible misjudgement there.
Now for the other interesting thing that I have come to find and am scratching my head over. I did a quick look at the past history of Canadian Elections back to 1867 to see who is more responsible for the problems of Canadian history. Granted, you could say "but the silencing of the Nation people happened when the first white man stepped foot on this great land of ours" and I would say "yes, that is true...and they were BRITISH/FRENCH. After 1867, we all became CANADIANS." Figure if Britian was our 'mother' and France was our 'father' then we are the second born 'child' of the two (First born being the USA, and we all know that the first born is always screwed up and the second born is better cause we learn from the stupid mistakes of the first born). Punishing the children for the sins of the parents would be like putting the father in jail for murder and then when the father dies in prison you put the children on trial and put them in prison to punish them for the crimes done. So, the Conservative gov't, that was in power for maybe 14 of the 38 times, has now said an apology, what do you think the odds of the Liberals, being in power for the other times, are going to step up to the plate (if they get back into power) and apologize again for their actions during this time? None. Why? cause unlike some countries, the political party is not the gov't but the gov't is the people which makes up both sides of the gov't.
When something goes wrong, you dont say "It was us, the Conservatives that did that, but the Liberals didnt". No, it is the Canadian Gov't that screwed up. If something goes right, then they try to say "yes the Liberals did that for you" but we all know that in the end you put the credit to the whole gov't of both Leader and Opposition of the gov't.
Anyways, it is a good thing that the apology was given and I hope that Canada can use this as a stepping stone to moving forward and we can stop the 'you destroyed my heritage, now I am at a loss of who I am....but, $1,000/month, plus not having to pay GST and a new ski-doo every year will help to ease the pain for starters' and we can say "we are Canadian. We are a joint people. If he is an alcoholic it is cause he is an alcoholic not cause anyone made him that way. If I am a failure, I am the failure, no one else made me that way" and we can possibly move forward to making Canada the great nation that it is.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080610/native_apology_080611/20080611?hub=Canada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election_results_since_1867
This was the headline that I read in the news today. Granted, I have mixed feelings and emotions about this bit of Canadian history. Yes, what happened in the past was, and still is, a horrible black spot on our past and it is good that things are being done to smooth things over. While an apology does not make the history go away, it does help the heart heal slowly.
I do find it somewhat insulting when the natives (or First Nations) say "yes, an apology is nice, now give me my $10,000 plus 'affirmative action', totally free education AND subsidized housing to help ease the pain of my grandparents and me not learning the drum dance of my ancient elders, which I really have no use for in todays society". Though it is nice that the Conservative Government has stepped up to take leader responsibility for the horrible misjudgement there.
Now for the other interesting thing that I have come to find and am scratching my head over. I did a quick look at the past history of Canadian Elections back to 1867 to see who is more responsible for the problems of Canadian history. Granted, you could say "but the silencing of the Nation people happened when the first white man stepped foot on this great land of ours" and I would say "yes, that is true...and they were BRITISH/FRENCH. After 1867, we all became CANADIANS." Figure if Britian was our 'mother' and France was our 'father' then we are the second born 'child' of the two (First born being the USA, and we all know that the first born is always screwed up and the second born is better cause we learn from the stupid mistakes of the first born). Punishing the children for the sins of the parents would be like putting the father in jail for murder and then when the father dies in prison you put the children on trial and put them in prison to punish them for the crimes done. So, the Conservative gov't, that was in power for maybe 14 of the 38 times, has now said an apology, what do you think the odds of the Liberals, being in power for the other times, are going to step up to the plate (if they get back into power) and apologize again for their actions during this time? None. Why? cause unlike some countries, the political party is not the gov't but the gov't is the people which makes up both sides of the gov't.
When something goes wrong, you dont say "It was us, the Conservatives that did that, but the Liberals didnt". No, it is the Canadian Gov't that screwed up. If something goes right, then they try to say "yes the Liberals did that for you" but we all know that in the end you put the credit to the whole gov't of both Leader and Opposition of the gov't.
Anyways, it is a good thing that the apology was given and I hope that Canada can use this as a stepping stone to moving forward and we can stop the 'you destroyed my heritage, now I am at a loss of who I am....but, $1,000/month, plus not having to pay GST and a new ski-doo every year will help to ease the pain for starters' and we can say "we are Canadian. We are a joint people. If he is an alcoholic it is cause he is an alcoholic not cause anyone made him that way. If I am a failure, I am the failure, no one else made me that way" and we can possibly move forward to making Canada the great nation that it is.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080610/native_apology_080611/20080611?hub=Canada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election_results_since_1867
posted by Capt_Canuck at 11:00 AM
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