“Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault introduced legislation proposing that September 30 be designated a “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” and observed as a statutory holiday for federally-regulated workers {Paid for by taxpayers…}.
“The government said the proposal is in response to the {Partial} Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which called for a holiday that honours ‘First Nations’ {Aboriginal communities}, Inuit and Métis ‘survivors’ {the Aboriginal Industry’s pejorative term for ‘former students’} of residential schools, their families and communities. The holiday would help ensure public commemoration {of only the negative aspects} of the residential school legacy, the Bill notes.
“The {Partial} Truth and Reconciliation Commission spent six years probing Canada’s residential school system, which it {unfairly} described as
“an education system in name only for much of its existence”.
“The TRC’s final report, published in 2015, said residential schools were created for the purpose of separating ‘Indigenous’ {sic, they mean ‘Aboriginal’} children from their families, in order to minimize and weaken family ties and cultural linkages and to ‘indoctrinate’ {‘assimilate’} children into a new culture.
“Mr. Guilbeault said the government has taken steps to address the {P}TRC’s calls to action, but it recognizes there is much work to do as a country.
“By establishing a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we will have a day every year to reflect and honour the ‘survivors’ of residential schools, ensuring they are never forgotten”,
he said in a statement.
“{Aboriginal bigot and activist} Senator Murray Sinclair, who chaired the commission, told the ‘Globe and Mail’ on Tuesday that establishing the national holiday is important because doing so will cause people to stop and pay attention.
“It also gives an opportunity for Canada to organize activities around that and that’s also very important”,
he said.
“Sept. 30 is already ‘Orange Shirt Day’ {An invention of the Aboriginal Industry – see below}. Created in 2013, the event is designed to promote {only negative} awareness about residential schools and their lasting effects. The National Centre for {Partial} ‘Truth’ and Reconciliation, along with the ‘Orange Shirt Day Society’, has nearly 500,000 students and teachers registered for the event…
“In the last Parliament, then-NDP MP Georgina Jolibois put forward ‘Bill C-369’, which also proposed naming a “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” as a statutory holiday. It passed through the House of Commons but died in the Senate in 2019. Creating such a statutory holiday is a significant milestone, Ms. Jolibois said Tuesday.
“The work on her private member’s bill was driven by a belief that ‘Indigenous’ {sic} people would welcome the important day, she said, adding that the legacy of residential schools is dark and painful {for some…}. She would have appreciated the ‘Liberals’ reaching out to inform her about the proposed legislation.
“As an ‘Indigenous’ {sic} woman who worked hard on the bill, I would think I would be given the respect and some recognition. Their version of reconciliation differs from mine.”
–‘Ottawa tables legislation on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation’,
KRISTY KIRKUP, Toronto Globe and Mail, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-government-tables-legislation-on-national-day-for-truth-and/
“The federal government’s plan to create a national statutory holiday commemorating the legacy of Canada’s Indigenous residential schools is laudable in intent {No, it’s not! It’s simply tokenism that will only cause further division}.
“It’s hard to argue with doing more to remember that {exaggerated and overblown} ‘dark chapter in our history’, and since this particular idea for doing so came out of the {Partial} ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’, it is not to be taken lightly. Appropriately, a couple of summer days with significance for ‘Indigenous’ {sic} Canadians are being mooted as possible dates.
“But envisioning how the commemoration could play out is cause for hesitation – and for considering whether an alternate version of what Ottawa has in mind would work better. The “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” would give federal employees a day off work, with provinces given the choice of following suit. Presumably, private-sector employers might follow.
“Realistically, Canadians do not always treat “stats” as occasions for sombre historical reflection. Do we really want to mark the tragedy of residential schools by sending people scrambling to cottages for a long weekend? (Similar concerns cause the Royal Canadian Legion to oppose giving people a paid day off for ‘Remembrance Day’.)
“One alternative would be to create an official day to commemorate residential schools and promote it heavily, without designating it a statutory holiday and affording it queasy celebratory overtones.
“A look to the United States suggests another potential compromise. There, ‘Martin Luther King Jr. Day’ draws attention to a shameful legacy of denying civil rights – and also the heroic work of transcending it.
“No one ‘Indigenous’ hero in this country is an easy choice over others for such an honour, but there are certainly good options. Just one example: the great Onondaga long-distance runner Tom Longboat, who won the 1907 ‘Boston Marathon’ – and twice ran away from his residential school as a boy.
{He would never have had the opportunity to compete without the residential school…}
“Marking the history of residential schools, so it is harder for Canadians to ignore, is a good idea. And a holiday dedicated to the ‘Indigenous’ {sic} experience in Canada is a fine one, as well. But Ottawa should give more thought to how it is combining the two.”
‘Is a statutory holiday really an appropriate way to mark the legacy of residential schools?’,
Toronto Globe and Mail Editorial, AUGUST 15, 2018
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-globe-editorial-is-a-statutory-holiday-really-an-appropriate-way-to/
See also:
‘Creating A Legend: The Orange Shirt’ {Sept.30, 2020}:
It’s understandable that a child would be upset by having to trade in a favourite piece of clothing for a school uniform, but it was the same for all children — not just aboriginal — at religious schools. What isn’t understandable is that she would still be holding a grievance all these years later. This is where counselling comes in…
“‘Orange Shirt Day’ began in Williams Lake in 2013 and has since spread to schools across B.C. and Canada. ‘Orange Shirt Day’ (September 30th) is a day when we honour the ‘Indigenous’ {sic} children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada and learn more about the history of those schools…”
https://canadiansforlegalequality.wordpress.com/2020/09/30/creating-a-legend-the-orange-shirt/
‘Residential Schools: Myths vs. Evidence’ {Sept.03, 2019}:
“Canadians are constantly being told that the Indian residential school system is at the root of the many dysfunctions in ‘indigenous’ {No, aboriginal} society today. Alcoholism, violence, poverty and poor educational attainment are all blamed on these schools, the last of which closed in the 1990s.
“Here are some myths and some facts:
“Myth: residential schools robbed all native kids of their childhoods.
Fact: the average stay was only 4.5 years and the vast majority of aboriginal youth never attended such a school…”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/09/03/residential-schools-myths-vs-evidence/
‘Blown Out of Proportion’ {Aug.29, 2019}:
“My great uncle was a Catholic priest teaching at a far north residential school in the 1960’s. I can tell you, this man had integrity, and would never have been involved in abuse, or even tolerated it around him. I believe a few cases of such abuse have been multiplied and blown out of proportion, to obtain settlements and perpetuate victimhood by some aboriginals. But not all. We don’t hear about the ones who had positive experiences in residential schools, do we? Why?”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/08/29/blown-out-of-proportion/
‘A Cynical Narrative‘ (Res.Schools/Hockey) {May 7, 2018}:
Pelican Lake Residential school. Early 1950’s.
An aboriginal posted underneath,
“Don’t be fooled by their smiles“.
Because aboriginals don’t love hockey?
Because there was NOTHING positive about Residential schools?
https://endracebasedlawcanadanews.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/a-cynical-narrative/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Post also at:
END RACE BASED LAW Daily News Canada 