春妮的周末时光

Assimilation, Exploitation & Discrimination: The Unenviable Fate of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples_我的网站

A | Pope Francis’s July 24-29 tour of Canada included a long-overdue apology to Native Canadians for the Catholic Church’s central role in abuses perpetrated at the country’s network of residential schools.,The notorious boarding school system was funded and organized by Canada’s federal government and run by Catholic and Protestant churches. It oversaw the forceful and systematic assimilation, abuse, enslavement and even murder of Native Canadian boys and girls from the mid-19th to late 20th centuries. It was a particularly brutal and cruel, but by no means first or only, tool of oppression experienced by indigenous peoples during the European colonialists’ history in North America.,“I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry. Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” Francis said at the former site of the Ermineskin Residential School in Maskwacis, Alberta on July 25.,The pope assured his apology was “only the first step” of “a serious investigation into the facts of what took place in the past and to assist the survivors of the residential schools to experience healing from the traumas they suffered.”,Pope Francis Holds Mass in Quebec During Visit to Canada to Apologize to Indigenous Community28 July, 13:01 GMT,Assimilation,More than 150,000 Native children passed through the residential school system over its 160+ year history. Children were prohibited, often by physical punishment, from speaking their native languages, having their ancestors’ religious concepts replaced with Christianity, and facing their cultural traditions and social norms substituted for those of the colonialists.,The first experimental residential school was opened in Brantford, Ontario, in 1833, but the system only became a federally-mandated, national, industrial-scale tool of subjugation in the 1880s after Sir John A Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, ordered the commissioning of a report on the residential school system model being operated in the United States.,The report, entitled ‘Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds’, became the basis for Canadian state-church cooperation in solving the Indian “problem” by removing indigenous children from the influences passed down to them by their communities and family units.,© WikipediaIndian Residential School, (Fort) Resolution, Northwest TerritoriesIndian Residential School, (Fort) Resolution, Northwest Territories© Wikipedia,Along with forced assimilation, students were subjected to other forms of torment, including sexual abuse by priests and teachers, forced labor, and slavery. As of 2021, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation has been able to identify 4,117 documented deaths of First Nations, Inuit and Metis children in residential schools. However, new graves continue to be discovered, and former Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Murray Sinclair estimates that more than 6,000 children may have died in the residential school system over the period of its operation.,In his bombshell 2016 book “Murder by Decree: the Crime of Genocide in Canada,” writer and former United Church of Canada reverend Kevin Annett challenged the NCTR over its conservative estimates on the residential school deaths, detailing the commission’s suppression of eyewitness testimony and archival documentation, and estimating that the true death toll may have run in the tens of thousands. Annett documented how the system included a monthly “death quota” and involved the use of germ warfare, and believes that as many as 50,000 children may have perished in the residential school network.,Exploitation,Residential schools were by no means the first instance of settlers’ mistreatment of Canada’s indigenous population, with Britain’s victory against the French in the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War of 1754-1763 sealing their fate of subjugation and colonial land grabs, as well as the relentless and cynical exploitation of the most loyal tribes.,At the conclusion of the war in 1763, King George III issued a royal proclamation declaring all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and the colonies of what would ultimately become the early United States as Native territories, outlawing their settlement or purchase by colonialists, and requiring treaty negotiations for any changes to the arrangement. In Canada –organized from the remnants of New France under the name ‘Quebec’, lands to the west and north of the colony were proclaimed Indian territory.,Centuries later, scholars continue to fiercely debate the correct interpretation of the proclamation, and whether it was meant as a permanent guarantee of Native rights to lands beyond the then-existent colonies, or a mere opportunity for colonists to catch their breath before continuing an aggressive push west.,© Photo"The British Governments in Nth America Laid down agreeable to the Proclamation of Octr. 7, 1763," Gentleman’s Magazine (London, 1763)"The British Governments in Nth America Laid down agreeable to the Proclamation of Octr. 7, 1763," Gentleman’s Magazine (London, 1763)© Photo,Even as colonists repeatedly broke the 1763 treaty’s terms throughout the rest of the 18th and 19th centuries through wars of aggression and by taking advantage of divisions within Native tribes through cunning and trickery, many Natives remained loyal to the Crown.,Perhaps nowhere was this better exemplified than in the story of Joseph Brant, an 18th-century Mohawk military and political leader who led his warriors in defense of the British Empire during the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783, and whose efforts proved decisive in halting an American advance into what is now Canada.,In return for the loyalty shown by Brant and his fellow Mohawks, Quebec Governor Sir Frederick Haldimand promised that after the war, his people would be granted more than 8,090 square km of land around the Grand River Basin in southern Ontario. However, after the war ended in 1783, the settlers would gradually chip away at their commitments, with the Native-administered area now known as the Six Nations Reserve shrinking to just 183 square km of land, two percent of what Brant was originally promised.,Brant’s story was repeated in one form or another throughout the 19th century, and today just 0.36 percent of Canada’s total landmass has reserve status for its Native communities.,© Wikipedia / National Archives of CanadaJoseph Brant, watercolour by William ArmstrongJoseph Brant, watercolour by William Armstrong© Wikipedia / National Archives of Canada,Discrimination,Notwithstanding decades of recognition by successive governments of the historical injustices done to indigenous people, and lip service to improving their social and economic standing, Canada’s community of 1.67 million Natives continues to struggle with a broad spectrum of problems more typically characterizing countries of the so-called Third World than of a thriving, highly developed First World nation.,The Council of Canadians estimates that some 73 percent of First Nations’ water systems are at medium or high risk of contamination, with dozens of indigenous communities still lacking basic access to clean drinking water, despite billions of dollars in aid doled out by Ottawa every year to developing countries, and over a billion dollars in support sent to Kiev this year amid the Ukrainian security crisis.,Along almost every social indicator, from poverty and access to housing to crime, education, and healthcare, Native communities continue to rank below other Canadians. Nowhere is this exemplified better than in average life expectancy. While other Canadian men and women live on average to an age of 79 and 84 years, respectively, among the First Nations, Metis and Inuit, these figures drop to 72.5 for men and 77.7 for women.。过年了，很久不见的亲戚朋友，都汇聚在一起。看起来大家都光鲜亮丽，其实是人的层次，鱼龙混杂。选择有真本事的人交往，一起谋事，我们的日子才会好起来。因此，学会一些简单的识人术，对于过年的社交，有必要。一般没本事的人，都有以下几个通病，一看便知。01谈去年，使劲显摆。作为70后，在上世纪九十年代，我是很羡慕那些打工回来的人。他们打扮比较时髦，也能够带回好几千块钱。后来，也有打工人开车回来，把车停在家门口，让人啧啧称赞。不知从什么时候开始，我们发现一个新名词：“一年两箱油。”就是说，一些长期在厂里打工的人，完全没有必要买车。但是他们为了过年回老家，撑起面子，就买车了。车买好了，但是工作期间用不上，就停在路边。只有过节的时候，才会把车开一开。养车的费用，比租车高多了。还有一种怪现象：“租豪车回家，故意说是买的。

B | ”一天耗费几百块钱，把豪车开回家。亲戚朋友都来围观，啧啧称赞。若是没有人围观，开着豪车去串门，或者故意把车停在村口，一个劲地给周围的人散烟，讲解自己“奋斗史”。用豪车撑面子，无疑是高消费，却没有带来高质量的生活。

C | 当我们看到有人开豪车回来，不要凑过去，也许他是一个负债累累的人，也许他是一个死要面子活受罪的人。除了车可以直接体现财富多少，另外就是“聊天”。一大群人，都从外地回来了，聚集在一起，说过去的一年，到底靠什么发财，自己做了什么工作，取得了什么进步。有的人，一开口，就输瓯子就过去的一年，一个月赚好几万。他们把偶尔的一次高工资，当成一年都走大运，高收入。也有人，无中生有，把别人的奋斗历史，说成是自己的历史。心理学上认为：“一个人越是缺少什么，就越需要向外界炫耀什么。”想尽办法告诉别人，自己发展多好，那一定的假的。

D | 真正混得好的人，都不想人知道；他们怕外人去求他们帮忙，或者借钱。混得好的人，把过去的苦也会藏起来，习惯了冷暖自知。

E | 02走亲戚，使劲大方。在我还小的时候，陪着母亲去走亲戚。母亲把一整年，舍不得吃，舍不得用的东西，拿出来，用袋子装好，送给亲戚。亲戚：“也太客气了，这些东西，你们还是留住自己用啊。”母亲毫不犹豫地说：“没啥，我们家多得是。

F | ”我没有搞明白，为什么母亲要“撒谎”——分明家里缺衣少食，没有这些东西，却说“多得是”。

G | 后来我才明白，母亲是怕亲戚不愿意收礼物，或者收了礼物之后，有一些愧疚感。如果说老一辈的人，随礼是尽己所能，那么现在的人，随礼就是“摆阔”。我的一个表弟，在深圳打工，去年有三个月处于失业状态。过年的时候，表弟给长辈每人两百元。据表弟的母亲透露，过年前，表弟还借了一笔钱。拿着借来的钱，到处去随礼，体现自己的客套，这有必要吗？我陷入了思考。

H | 说实话，现在过年，若你不抠紧一点，这随礼的开销是很大的，动不动就几千。走亲访友的过程中，也会有人装大方。他们动不动就答应亲戚，可以介绍工作，可以帮忙借到钱。过完年之后，亲戚真的去找他，发现他无法兑现承诺。谎言，马上被揭开，这大方，比小气还难看。

I | 真正有实力的人，反而不会随意送大礼，而是对照实际需求去串门，注重价值交换。他们也不会随意答应帮忙，反而觉得自己的实力不够，对亲戚表示“爱莫能助”。03说来年，使劲计划。明年，大家要干啥？这是聚会的时候，少不了的话题。古人云：“有志者立长志，无志者常立志。

J | ”看一个人，说自己要干七八件大事，往往是一件事都干不成，也不会开始。

K | 看一个人，把计划书做得非常完美，就像是一张废纸，躺在抽屉里。一会儿往东走，一会儿往西走，一会儿做大厨，一会儿开工厂，这样的人，类似小猫钓鱼，和成功是没有缘分的。我们看一看，会发现很多人，说自己过完年去哪里混，却过了元宵节，还在团团转，工作没有着落。谎言就拆穿了。有一个词语，叫“言过其实”。把不实际的东西拿出来，作为新年打算，就是漂浮。

L | 很多人，每年都有好的计划，但是每年都是老样子，没有致富。联系他多年的言行举止，就能够发现真实的他了。真正有本事的人，他们在过年前，就有了一年的打算，但是不会轻易告诉他人。毕竟，人就是要“闷声发大财”，而不是拉着一群人入伙；不是把计划透露，坐等人来竞争。04奥斯特洛夫斯基说过：“谁不能主宰自己，谁就永远是一个奴隶。”过年了，我们需要主宰的，不是别人的饭局，别人的羡慕，别人的成绩，而是主宰自己的言行举止。你过得好不好，就是关系到小家庭的幸福，和外面的一大群亲戚朋友，没有啥关系。踏踏实实过自己的小日子，不要外人羡慕，幸福指数更高。