A few years ago, I wrote a Canada Day post that reflected a little on our nation’s shortcomings and hoped we could move past them. In light of the revelations over the past year, I’ve come to realize that post was written from a perspective of privileged naivete.
As I write this, the nation is reeling from the discovery of three sites of unmarked and/or mass graves, each site corresponding to a site where a Residential School once stood. Each site filled with the bodies of Indigenous children who died at those “schools” as part of the genocide the governments of the day waged against the First Nations people within our borders. Right now, the tally stands at over 1,000 children buried at these sites. Now that there’s an active push to examine the Residential School sites across the country, that number can only be expected to rise.
In between the discoveries, other examples of the deeply rooted and systemic racism within Canada have revealed themselves. In early June, a man in London, Ontario, took a vehicle and ran over a Muslim family, killing all but one nine year old child. A former intelligence officer has recently spoken out on systemic racism and harassment within CSIS, Canada’s intelligence agency. Another report records several racist incidents at one of Canada’s busiest border crossings. The first black leader of a federal political party – Annamie Paul of the Greens – is under fire from her own party, and faces a no-confidence vote.
My post in 2018 operated under the assumption that Canada was not, at heart, a racist country; we had our flaws, true, but we just needed to work at them. But now, faced with the mounting evidence, it is time to come to terms with who we are. Who we really are.
Canada’s racism is not some dark force cowering in cracks and waiting for a chance to strike back. It is, instead, rooted deep within our laws, our institutions, our culture. Like an advanced cancer, it infects all aspects of our society. It is something we – especially white, English-speaking, nominally Christian – Canadians have enabled for generations. It makes everything we tell ourselves about how good and kind and polite we are a lie.
In response to the above-mentioned horrors revealed this past month, a growing number of communities including my home town of Fredericton, have cancelled their Canada Day celebrations this year. I think this move is only proper; when we as individuals realize we have done something terrible, we do not feel happy or joyous, we feel ashamed, and it is only natural to feel sad in such times. As communities and as a nation, those feelings and reactions are just the same as they are for individuals, and are just as natural. I consider it a good sign that we don’t feel like celebrating at a time when many among us are in pain – if for no other reason than it shows we still have some vestigial conscience still clinging to life. The presence of that vestigial conscience is the one shred of hope I can see in these dark times.
Our task to build a better Canada is a lot harder than many of us wanted, or even imagined. But it is important to do so all the more. And the first step is to start on the long and painful path of repentance. That word has deeply religious connections, but I think it is apt. We have sinned against our fellow humans – and have built a system that makes it easier for that sin to be perpetuated constantly than for it to be stopped. Before there can be forgiveness and reconciliation, there must be repentance. We, as individuals, communities, and as a nation, must act – words are no longer enough, if indeed they ever were. We will need to overhaul every aspect of our society – our laws and institutions, our political parties, our holidays, our schools – and root out all aspects of racism and white supremacy that remain there.
I don’t have any solid advice on how we can do this save for two things. First, we need to push our government into implementing the 94 Calls To Action that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put forward in its report in 2015 – to date, only 14 have been completed. Second – especially with a possible Federal election looming – we need to take a good, hard, look at the party platforms, and make sure we cast votes for parties that have clear plans for grappling with the systemic racism within our society.
I suppose there is one other thing. This Canada Day, let’s all take some time to reflect on our own thoughts and behaviours. Are there things we think or do that are racist on some level? What can we do to replace those thoughts and behaviours with better, more inclusive ones? Perhaps once we have cleared away some of the racist thinking in our own lives – and I’m including myself in this, as I’ve had my share of racist thoughts over the years – we can see our country more clearly and help it to fight back against this ever-present evil.