The Devious Plan To Destroy Aboriginal Culture In Canada

By Rupert Johnson
PRIDE Columnist

There is no doubt that cultural domination was the policy orchestrated by the Canadian government in the late 19th century.
And it is notorious that this policy of domination degenerated into outright cultural genocide.
There is no better example of this shameful policy than what was meted out to Canadian native people by the government. This was done through the forceable confinement of Aboriginal children into residential schools.
For over 100 years starting in 1883, 150,000 Aboriginal youngsters were ripped from their family homes and sent to these wretched, horror-like schools.
There, they were systematically subjected to what the recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission described as cultural genocide.
This concerted policy was aimed at the total obliteration of the children’s ancestral identity.
They were deprived of their linguistic heritage, and their names. Their names were replaced with numbers. Every child was called by a number, not by name. Every aspect of the Indian way of life was targeted for total annihilation.
It is indeed abominable and shameful that it was not until 1996 that all the residential schools were closed.
It is appalling that many of the dominant churches played an active and central role in the assimilation of Aboriginal children into main stream Canadian society. This was supposed to be the ultimate conquest of all native people.
But in this quest for Anglo-Saxon domination the Aboriginals endured not only psychological abuse, but physical abuse as well.
It has been documented that many suffered the agonizing and humiliating mistreatment of sterilization, hunger, and sexual abuse by those in authority. It is estimated that about 6000 children died because of ill-treatment. This was pure genocide on a massive scale.
But something else was equally devious at work here.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, under the chairmanship of Justice Murray Sinclair hits the nail on the head when it stated: “The Canadian government pursued this policy of cultural genocide, because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to Aboriginal people, and to gain control over their land and resources.”
For hundreds of years the Aboriginal people of Canada have been subjugated to a life of abject poverty, political impotence, and low social status.
This abominable state of affairs is largely due to the fact, that the land on which their ancestors lived for thousands of years was confiscated and expropriated by the British and the French.
Over the years, Aboriginals have fought vigorously to reclaim the lands that were taken away from them. But they have always met with stiff resistance.
One only has to examine what transpired between the OPP and the First Nations people at Ipperwash in 1995, to see the raw callousness and gross indifference of the Ontario government in Toronto and the federal government in Ottawa.
We can all recall that during the highly charged situation at the Ipperwash Provincial Park on September 6, 1995, Dudley George, an unarmed native protester, was brutally gunned down by an OPP officer. It is now well known that all the Natives were unarmed. The Natives merely wanted the government to recognize their legitimate land claim.
There is no doubt that the land at Ipperwash belongs to the First Nations people for it has been well documented, that the Canadian government expropriated the land in 1942, and used it as a military camp during the Second World War.
It was clearly understood that the land would be returned to the First Nations when the war ended. But the land was not returned.
It can, therefore, be said that the protest at Ipperwash in 1995 was the culmination of 50 years of sheer frustration, brought about by the gross indifference and callousness of both federal and provincial governments.
However, it is heartening that after serious negotiations, the Ipperwash Park land has been returned to the rightful owners: the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nations.
But it should be noted that other land claims throughout the country are still outstanding.
It is sad to say that very little has been done to alleviate the plight of Aboriginals over the years.
Stephen Harper’s apology to Native people on June 11, 2008 smacks of hollowness in that his concern is minuscule.
It should be noted that he has bluntly refused to heed the call for a national enquiry into murdered and missing Aboriginal women.
It is also to be noted that the call for a national enquiry is one of the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
It’s time to have this Enquiry Mr. Prime Minister!

Rupert Johnson can be reached at: r.b.johnson@sympatico.ca