Canadian Politics

[Noeller]

I'm definitely going to be treating tomorrow a bit like remembrance day, while also celebrating the things that make our nation great. It's a difficult time and we've all got to do a little reflection on what it really means to be Canadian. 

[Tracker]

"We" did not do this terrible thing whereby children died sick, abused, neglected, alone and frightened in the hands of those who where supposed to care for them. But it is part of the history of our country and the scars are still everywhere. We, as a country, need to remember and mourn for all the children who never came home, the parents and families who never knew what happened and the communities who fractured under the grief and fear. 

We live in a wonderful country- not a perfect one, and you cannot heal what you will not feel. Going fast-forward past these tragedies will not serve anyone, and only ensure it or something like it will happen again.

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

"We" did not do this terrible thing whereby children died sick, abused, neglected, alone and frightened in the hands of those who where supposed to care for them. But it is part of the history of our country and the scars are still everywhere. We, as a country, need to remember and mourn for all the children who never came home, the parents and families who never knew what happened and the communities who fractured under the grief and fear. 

We live in a wonderful country- not a perfect one, and you cannot heal what you will not feel. Going fast-forward past these tragedies will not serve anyone, and only ensure it or something like it will happen again.

This is wonderful. "You cannot heal what you cannot feel".... I'm gonna hang on to that one. 

[the watcher]

I agree with most of the sentiments expressed here. Its a great nation we live in but we do have our scars on our history. And our scars are not healed . They are open wounds for many of our citizens. Perhaps this will be a watershed moment for our country. Perhaps we can " own up " to what happened and start the healing process. Perhaps we can find some national leadership that will finally deal with indigenous  issues. There has never been a single one yet  of any political stripe.  I'm not really all that confident in that ,given our current slate of leaders.

 On a personal level I have been thinking alot  about my own knowledge / ignorance  of residential schools. I'm in my 60s and when I grew up all I knew or thought about residential schools is it was where indigenous kids went to school. That's it.  No idea that it was forced.That it could be against a parents wishes. Or the conditions. Or the deaths. Or the abuse. Or that alot of parents never saw their kids again. Or the generational damage. My wife who grew up in Vancouver knew even less if that's even possible. It probably wasn't till the late 70s that I started to learn the truth.

As I said perhaps this can be a time when things can change . Maybe. We are horribly lacking in leadership right now but maybe a ground swell can force real change. I fear that all the right words will be said and funds will be allocated , and as usual they will disappear into the bureaucracy as they have in the past.  In the meantime I will continue to work on my own understanding and education.

 

[Tracker]

10 minutes ago, the watcher said:

I agree with most of the sentiments expressed here. Its a great nation we live in but we do have our scars on our history. And our scars are not healed . They are open wounds for many of our citizens. Perhaps this will be a watershed moment for our country. Perhaps we can " own up " to what happened and start the healing process. Perhaps we can find some national leadership that will finally deal with indigenous  issues. There has never been a single one yet  of any political stripe.  I'm not really all that confident in that ,given our current slate of leaders.

 On a personal level I have been thinking alot  about my own knowledge / ignorance  of residential schools. I'm in my 60s and when I grew up all I knew or thought about residential schools is it was where indigenous kids went to school. That's it.  No idea that it was forced.That it could be against a parents wishes. Or the conditions. Or the deaths. Or the abuse. Or that alot of parents never saw their kids again. Or the generational damage. My wife who grew up in Vancouver knew even less if that's even possible. It probably wasn't till the late 70s that I started to learn the truth.

As I said perhaps this can be a time when things can change . Maybe. We are horribly lacking in leadership right now but maybe a ground swell can force real change. I fear that all the right words will be said and funds will be allocated , and as usual they will disappear into the bureaucracy as they have in the past.  In the meantime I will continue to work on my own understanding and education.

 

Cultural changes happen in increments, so awareness is the first step in that. Next comes closure (cessation of dysfunctional behaviours) and then we can install new and helpful behaviours and attitudes. We here in Canada do not have the mountain to climb that the Americans do. although we have some of the same idiots- just not as many.

[Bigblue204]

Ive mentioned before that I was "lucky" enough to learn about assimilation schools early. I stopped celebrating Canada after that. It caused some tensions with my family when I brought up why I dont want to...thankfully like many others, the discovery of the children brought out the empathy from my family and this year they won't be celebrating Canada day. Instead just quietly reflecting. 

I've now got a built in excuse to not celebrate today, as it's my son's birthday! 7yrs old! Since we first watched them in the hospital room I've told him the fireworks are for him!! 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

They ripped down the Queen Vic statue at the Ledge 😲

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-toppled-1.6087684

Edited July 1, 2021 by FrostyWinnipeg

[Tracker]

13 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

They ripped down the Queen Vic statue at the Ledge 😲

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-toppled-1.6087684

Now, that's a stupid overreaction that will only strengthen the views of the racists.

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

They ripped down the Queen Vic statue at the Ledge 😲

not sure what to think

Edited July 1, 2021 by Mark F

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

1 hour ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

They ripped down the Queen Vic statue at the Ledge 😲

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/queen-victoria-statue-toppled-1.6087684

WHy? DId she have a huge role in residential schools?

[Brandon]

7 hours ago, Mark F said:

not sure what to think

Pretty obvious to know what to think,  a bunch of people doing something really stupid. 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

All I know is that when I was in school back in the 60's & 70's as well as all the way thru university where I studied Canadian history there was never a mention of residential schools. In elementary & high school, we were taught that as Canadians we were lucky to live in Canada. We were told in school that we were one of the few nations in the world that was not founded after a war. We never had the "Indian Wars" the US had when the West was settled with the help of the CPR. We were taught we were the least racist country in the world. Slavery was not an institution in our country like it was in the US & we were not Imperialists like the US, China, Soviet Union or Britain. We never conquered other countries or planted a Canadian flag on another country's sovereign soil. That we were a peaceful people. Yes, we were taught we were the greatest country in the world. We knew nothing of what went on in residential schools.  Now, the truth is coming out & Canadians are shocked by how previous federal governments & (especially) the Catholic Church covered this up. We were deliberately kept in the dark.

 

[iHeart]

welp, the incident made CBS News

 

[SpeedFlex27]

Who's next Bud Grant?

[iHeart]

Did the Queen's Head happen to go awol by any chance?

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by iHeart

[FrostyWinnipeg]

1 hour ago, iHeart said:

Did the Queen's Head happen to go awol by any chance?

 

Massive Ledg security/Wpg police fail.

 

[MOBomberFan]

'A riot is the language of the unheard' Martin Luther King

[Tracker]

16 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

Massive Ledg security/Wpg police fail.

 

The police chief said on the radio yesterday that he was in ongoing contact with the officers on scene and it was decided that there would be no arrests or intervention out of concern about inflaming the situation. Probably a wise decision.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

The police chief said on the radio yesterday that he was in ongoing contact with the officers on scene and it was decided that there would be no arrests or intervention out of concern about inflaming the situation. Probably a wise decision.

So the police gave them the go-ahead. Well isn't that special.

Edited July 3, 2021 by FrostyWinnipeg

[blue_gold_84]

On 2021-07-01 at 6:41 PM, wanna-b-fanboy said:

WHy? DId she have a huge role in residential schools?

Not directly. She was the ruling monarch at the time of the creation of this country and IIRC, gave royal assent to the Indian Act in 1876. I can only assume protesters who tore down the statue last week were motivated to do so by associating her rule with the history of residential schools. Since when has vandalism of public property ever been productive, though? It's just childish and nonsensical, IMO.

Tearing statues accomplishes basically the same thing as erecting them: virtually nothing of any worthwhile or positive importance. I'd even argue the former act causes further harm to an already tense and heated situation.

[Noeller]

 

[Mark F]

59 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Tearing statues accomplishes basically the same thing as erecting them: virtually nothing of any worthwhile or positive importance. I'd even argue the former act causes further harm to an already tense and heated situation.

not always..... statues of KKK leaders are on display in some legislative grounds in the states. 

or, statues of sadaam hussein , probably better without them.

toppling communist dictator statues in East Germany when the wall came down.

depends on your perspective. to some people, no real difference between living under victoria, or Stalin.

the British in those days operated the biggest gulag in history.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Mark F

[JCon]

Tear them all down, put them in museums that highlight the genocide perpetrated by these murderous figures. Or, dump them in the river, which I'm also fine with. 

[blue_gold_84]

23 minutes ago, Mark F said:

not always..... statues of KKK leaders are on display in some legislative grounds in the states. 

or, statues of sadaam hussein , probably better without them.

toppling communist dictator statues in East Germany when the wall came down.

depends on your perspective. to some people, no real difference between living under victoria, or Stalin.

the British in those days operated the biggest gulag in history.

You're right. That's why I made it a point to say erecting statues is equally as useless and ridiculous. There's no logic in celebrating dictators, tyrants, monarchs, or any other individual who has, by their own action or inaction, perpetuated what's wrong and unjust with the world. And there's even less logic in putting those wastes of materials on gov't property or in public spaces such as parks.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

37 minutes ago, Noeller said:

 

The best patronage job you can get.