Thursday, June 12, 2008

Sorry

Yesterday, Stephen Harper, the leader of the Bush Administration - Canadian Edition (TM), did something quintessentially Canadian. He apologized.

I don't mean that in a derisive way. It says a lot about this country that we can face up to our history and admit that we did wrong. We are a country so progressive that even the party of the wealthy white warmongering evangelical Christian male can still be cajoled into an apology (and cajoling there was). There are few places in the world where a similar situation exists. Imagine if Turkey were to apologize to the Kurds (or the Armenians for that matter), or if the "State of Israel" were to apologize to the Palestinians. It wouldn't solve the problem, but it would convince everyone that a solution was possible.

Still, an apology should only go so far. Listening to CBC yesterday, I couldn't help but wonder why so many First Nations leaders were gushing over the eloquence and sincerity of the apology. While there was dissent elsewhere, inside the House each representative from an indigenous group offered Harper sincere and heartfelt thanks for his apology.

I've long thought that Canada's indigenous peoples have suffered for being too nice, suffering relatively quietly, given the magnitude of the malice and injustice they have faced, and lashing out more at themselves than anyone else - the average suicide rate in indigenous communities is 6 times the national average. Yesterday seemed no exception.

Effectively, Harper said, "For kidnapping you as children and putting you in the care of sadists and sexual predators (although I hear some of them were nice)*, in a deliberate plot to wipe out your culture and languages, we're sorry."

I'm not sure what the right response is, but "thank you" doesn't really seem to me like it fits...

*"While some former students have spoken positively about their experiences at residential schools – these stories are far overshadowed by tragic accounts of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect of helpless children and their separation from powerless families and communities." - Stephen Harper

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