Have a happy but honest Canada Day

Today, as you’re celebrating everything it means to be a Canadian (or to aspire to be one), and there are a lot of good things to celebrate, don’t forget that there are a lot of bad things that must not be forgotten too. The only way to progress towards a better future for all Canadians is to acknowledge the mistakes that we have made and look at ourselves and our institutions with honest, self-reflection.

At a time when systemic racism is finally being thrust to the top of the conversation, we must also include the inconvenient history of our national police force, the RCMP and it’s predecessor the NWMP. When our country was still young and our first prime minster, Sir John A. MacDonald, sought to expand the country westward, he needed a way to control the “savages”, as he called them. Residential schools was one of his genocidal legacies but another was the NWMP.

To learn more about the RCMP’s white supremacist roots from the perspective of two Indigenous men, I would highly recommend a recent short but informative and poignant podcast by CANADALAND:

Karl Dockstader and Sean Vanderklis, co-hosts of the radio show and podcast One Dish, One Mic, join Jesse to talk about the history of policing back to John A. Macdonald, the killing of Dudley George at Ipperwash in 1995, and how it has impacted their lives as Indigenous men. Plus, Karl and Sean spoke with Senator Lillian Dyck about her call for RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s resignation.

You can find the podcast here: https://www.canadalandshow.com/podcast/331-the-rcmp-exists-to-control-indigenous-people/.

I hope you will find this as enlightening as I have. Take care and stay safe.