Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I got my second vaccine two days ago and I’m still really tired and I have some brain fog (Possibly the kid’s fault and not the vaccine). So what I’m about to say might be a little wordy.
There’s something that’s always eluded me and confused me. The sense of Cultural and National Pride. It’s always seemed a little creepy, cult like, and arbitrary. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy to live in a place that the government isn’t going to kill me for my sexuality. I’m happy to have lived in a place that gave me the opportunities to be able to provide for my family even though I was raised by a single mother of lower income.
But the flag waving and inability to criticize our history has always made me uncomfortable. My mother taught me about residential schools when I was young. I learned more about them in my university Canadian Literature class. It’s not something most people knew or investigated and I’ll be the first to admit it’s something that’s hard (emotionally; the info is easy to find) to learn about.
I wasn’t surprised by the first discoveries, I was numb. I’m still a little numb, because we’re going to find more and, horrifically, there will be those we don’t find. These deaths are horrible, but it’s important to remember that they are just the tip of the iceberg. When the investigation is over, the news will scream a number and say how terrible it is, but they won’t add those that killed themselves after attending the schools, those that suffered from untreated PTSD, or those that died of disease or poor living conditions afterwards.
There are still thousands of missing or murdered indigenous women, thousands of people on reserves don’t have clean drinking water, the Canadian government is still fighting Indigenous servitors in court, and people are still arguing that it’s the Indigenous community’s fault.
Yesterday, my family and I wore orange (well I wore black because I don’t have orange, but I’ll fix that for September.)
It’s a big thing and as a regular Canadian with little to no real power, it’s easy to feel utterly powerless. There are things you can do however. They aren’t all easy, but they are necessary for us to grow and improve this country.
The most important thing to do is to Listen to the Indigenous community and fight the urge to be defensive or argue.
The next thing you should do is Learn. Go read the Truth and Reconciliation report, read books and stories by native authors, find out whose land you live on, and keep your mind open. If the communities near you have open houses or events open to you, you should consider participating.
Next thing is absolutely the easiest and that’s to shop Indigenous for Indigenous goods. It might save you a few minutes to order a dream-catcher or orange shirt from amazon/walmart, but that gives amazon/walmart money not the Indigenous artists that need it.
I admit I still have a lot to learn and a lot to do, but together with respect we can learn and improve our country and our world.
Be kind and stay safe,
Éric