Canada 150 is celebrating murders and abuse
By Sarah
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Canada’s 150th is a celebratory year for the country, initiating family friendly backyard feasts and firework shows to light up the sky with the red and white specks of light. We all must admit that Canada is a diverse country with several cultures and traditions in every aspect we gaze at, but Canada’s unacceptable ignorance in celebration is luring that gaze away from indigenous peoples.
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Alberta Williams was found deceased on september 25th, 1989. An indigenous woman whom simply searched for happiness and unity was found lifelessly seeping along the Highway of Tears. Her murder had been investigated, although no charges were made despite the fact that her family and Garry Kerr (the initial RCMP officer that investigated the crime) believe their guess on whom Alberta’s killer may be is fully accurate without having spoken about it to each other until only recently.
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| https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2017/01/27/highway-of-tears-partial-bus-service-ready-to-roll/highway-of-tears.jpg |
On the edge of 29 years, Alberta’s family have been seeking closure. There are several remaining communities of indigenous peoples still seeking justice for their loved ones.
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Highway 16 remains in British Columbia, Canada; it is best known as ‘The Highway of Tears’. The location represents murders in the indigenous women community, yet the news expresses the death of caucasian women fondly in comparison to the majority of the victims. This initiated questions and I am providing the answer some may be seeking.
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The murders began around 1969, coincidentally during the Residential Schooling era. Residential Schools were founded in the 1930’s to colonize indigenous peoples and provided churches of European religion with the ability to abuse, sexually assault, inflict death upon and wipe the indigenous children of their traditions, culture and language. European settlers essentially took over indigenous land and made it their own.They inflicted racism, eurocentrism and overall abuse on the people Native to the country. Indigenous people were considered ‘Indians’ or ‘Savages’, thankfully these slurs are now considered racist terminology towards indigenous labelling.
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| http://s3.amazonaws.com/isuma.video.thumbs.large/Indian_ Residential_School_Apology_by_PM_Stephen_Harper_Full.mp4.jpg |
In 1996, Residential Schools in Canada were formally closed and an excessively staged apology was made by Stephen Harper on June 11th, 2008.
Reconciliation began, but it is a means of providing to them what they had already taken away. Residential Schooling remains a major part in the self destruction that became alcoholism, drug addiction, criminal activity and suicide.
- “The life expectancy of First Nation citizens are five to seven years less than other non-Aboriginal Canadians.”
- “There are almost 600 unsolved cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.”
- “ First Nations children, on average, receive 22% less funding for child welfare services than other Canadian children.”
- “ If we close the education and employment gap between First Nations and other Canadians, First Nation workers would add $400 billion to Canada’s GDP by 2026.”
- “First Nations students attending on-reserve schools are funded at a rate of $3,000 - $7,000 less than students attending other schools in Canada.”
- “ Of the 88,485 houses on reserves, 5,486 are without sewage services.”
- “ Mould contaminates almost half of all First Nations households.”
- “Tuberculosis among First Nation citizens is 31 times the national average.”
As we can all investigate, Canada 150 is built on the foundation of suffering in indigenous communities. The country is only beginning to gather education to acquire awareness to this issue, therefore change may only apply if we provide Canadians and our surrounding countries with the proper education. Let’s cease to pretend that Canada is a perfect society, no country is perfect and every country has their own ‘hush-hush’ avoidances.
References:
2010, September 15. Statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100015644/1100100015649
Legacy Of Hope Foundation. Reclaiming History: The Residential School System in Canada. Retrieved from: http://wherearethechildren.ca/en/timeline/research/
Beaudette, T. Bellrichard, C. Carreiro, D. Ivany, K. Hoffman, K. Levasseur, J. Pederson, K. Perrier, C. Troian, M. Wilson, T. 2016. Alberta Gail Williams. Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/alberta-gail-williams
Postmedia Network Inc. 2017, September 27. Sister of Alberta Williams, murdered in 1989, hopes for justice from inquiry. Retrieved from: http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/sister-of-alberta-williams-murdered-in-1989-hopes-for-justice-from-inquiry
Wikipedia.2017, October 11. Highway of Tears murders. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears_murders
Assembly of First Nations. Policy Sectors. Retrieved from: http://www.afn.ca/policy-sectors/
External Links:
Canada 150 image: https://i.cbc.ca/1.3928513.1484042649!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_1180/canada-150-ottawa.jpg
Alberta Williams photo: http://www.missingpeople.net/Alberta%20Williams_1989.jpg
Highway of Tears sign image: https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2017/01/27/highway-of-tears-partial-bus-service-ready-to-roll/highway-of-tears.jpg
Missing women image: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/cms/binary/7298363.jpg?size=640x420
Residential School photo: https://images.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2015/06/01/photo-opens-window-on-life-in-residential-school/new-pray023jpg.jpg
Stephen Harper image: http://s3.amazonaws.com/isuma.video.thumbs.large/Indian_Residential_School_Apology_by_PM_Stephen_Harper_Full.mp4.jpg
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