APTN National News
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo says residential schools meet the definition of genocide.
At the opening of the AFN’s health forum, the national chief spoke about the collective indigenous experience of residential schools.
He acknowledged the reality of the harm that was done.
“I, along with so many of our people, feel if you consider what the term genocide means,” said Atleo. “It references to the killing of people. Our people died in residential schools…the residential school was cultural genocide; the attempt to, over the course of history, to kill the Indian in the child. And that has been the experience of our people.”
How terrible was it, to force the F.N. People to give their children up, to those inhuman schools?u00a0 That was an atrocity. They were just as bad as the Nazi death camps.u00a0 What hell those kids were living in.nnEven today, First Nations children’s schools are an abomination.u00a0 They have to keep their winter jackets on to stay warm. Some of them, don’t even know what a real school is, most are ice cold portables.u00a0 These children should have, decent schools with a gymnasium for basketball, volleyball. They should have skating rinks, music lessons, everything our own kids have. The suicides among the F.N. youth, is heartbreaking. They need to have hope for a good happy life. Most of all, I think they need to keep up with their culture and not allow their languages to die out. nnMany F.N. citizens don’t even have safe clean drinking water. They also have to constantly fight to save their food sources.u00a0 These people were forced onto reservations, in what was useless land for farming.u00a0 Now those rocky places have, gold, silver, and other precious metals. There are oil and gas in their lands, and of course shale gas. Now Harper has made it so, he does not have to consult the F.N. People, over the eco damage done by, the Enbridge pipeline, dirty oil tankers, and other atrocities forced on them.nnMy Dad wasn’t young when I was born, he was born in 1889.u00a0 He was from the U.S. and came to Canada to take out a homestead, in Saskatchewan.u00a0 One winter my Dad was very ill with pneumonia.u00a0 He was unable to hunt for their meat.u00a0 The First Nations People brought Mom and Dad a moose, they cut firewood for my Mother. The family would not have survived without the help of the F.N. People.u00a0 They helped many immigrant family’s, who had no idea just how cold and severe winter on the prairies were.u00a0 My parents grew an extra large vegetable gardens every year. They provided the F.N. people with vegetables for the winters.u00a0 My parents never forgot how good, kind and decent those F.Nu00a0 People were to them. nnIt makes me angry, by the way our governments treat the F.N’s today.n
The First Nations People have had many atrocities forced on them, and still are.u00a0 Forcing the F.N. children into the residential schools, was no better than the death camps, throughout Europe during WW11. Their children today, are forced into make shift schools, where they have to keep their winter jackets on to stay warm.u00a0 The WW11 F.N. veterans,u00a0 haven’t even been recognized by this country.u00a0 Shame on Canada, that is despicable.u00a0 nnThe F.N. were forced onto reservations, worthless land for farming.u00a0 However, those rocky wildernesses have precious metals, oil and gas, and shale gas.u00a0 Now the governments are stomping all over the F.N.u00a0 They want those resources, very, very badly. I do believe, Harper through the corrupt judicial system in BC, fixed it so he doesn’t have to consult the F.N. on the environmental damage done to their lands. They want to string the dirty oil pipelines over their, rivers. streams and lands.u00a0 The people have to constantly battle to save their hunting grounds and fishing, to feed their family’s. They rely on the salmon a great deal to feed their people.u00a0 Salmon that is now too diseased, to even eat.u00a0 The bears, eagles and hundreds of wildlife creatures depend on the salmon too. Because of a pipeline burst, the F.N. had to give up their school.u00a0 The children got very sick from the fumes. Many reserves don’t even have, safe clean drinking water. The poison from that pipe burst, poisoned the clean underground drinking water.nnI could go on forever.u00a0 Canada is a cesspool of corruption, a fascist, dictatorship country. Here in BC, thousands of citizens will support the F.N. People, to protect their lands and waters. Their kids are committing suicide, a sign of just how much they see their lives as hopeless.u00a0 Those kids need decent schools, skating rinks, music lessons and everything our other children have. The F.N. have acknowledged, they have to clean up their corruption, which is more than our governments are prepared to do.
Maybe it is time to step down from your soapbox.u00a0 Other groups of people got some dirty deals in life.u00a0 Time to stop sitting around whining and milking the system.u00a0 Encourage your people to take responsibility for themselves.u00a0 I feel I got a dirty deal in life but I am not sitting around waiting for someone else to take care of me.
Had Duncan equated the Jewish genocide with bad immigration/membership policy…he would have been let go…
And we honestly think we can work with these people?? People who equate murder, sexual abuse, physical and emotional violence with bad policy? I don’t think so….