Support NeoGAF

[CazTGG]

Looks like America isn't the only country to whitewash one of its greatest shames this week.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/res...ll-intentioned-conservative-senator-1.4015115

Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak mounted a defence of the Indigenous residential school system in the Red Chamber Tuesday, lamenting that the "good deeds" accomplished by "well-intentioned" religious teachers have been overshadowed by negative reports documented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants — perhaps some of us here in this chamber — whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged for the most part," she said.

The commission, which conducted an exhaustive six-year study of the system, found physical, mental and sexual abuse was rampant, and some 6,000 children died while in care because of malnourishment or disease.

For those outside of Canada: Residential schools were religious schools set up by the Canadian federal government in the 1880s specifically for the indigenous population of Canada (Note: There were other residential schools prior to this however let's keep this explanation simple). Students who would attend these schools were often subjected to terrible conditions, far worse education in comparison to regular schools and a variety of abuse including rape. The intention behind them was to "kill the Indian in a child" by assimilating the native population and commit an act of cultural genocide that devastated generations of indigenous people. The last one closed as recently as 1996 and remain one of my country's most reprehensible decisions.

She also praised Trudeau's (the other one) White Paper, the disastrous response to the Hawthorn Report just to add onto her indefensible and dangerous remarks.

 

[yanipheonu]

She probably has no idea what she's talking about. Those schools were a goddamn nightmare.

That depressing moment where you realize, even with this, Canada is probably doing more than most to help it's native people out...

 

[TemplaerDude]

Can we please demolish the senate and make it actually accountable?

 

[Silver Arrows]

Fuck her.

Residential schools were an absolute tragedy and should be hammered into every single child via schooling.

The things the Canadian government did to Aboriginals definitely shows they took after their colonial masters in regards to racist policies.

 

[Zekes!]

She's a fucking idiot

 

[killer rin]

Ugh, fuck this senator. Absolutely abhorrent thoughts.

 

[yanipheonu]

Can we please demolish the senate and make it actually accountable?

 

[unpopularblargh]

Residential schools were a travesty of the highest order. People need to realize we as a society have done some awful things and learn from them instead of trying to constantly dismiss and whitewash the awfulness.

In case anyone wants to read more on them CBC has a digital archive: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/a-lost-heritage-canadas-residential-schools

And there was a Heritage Minute PSA made about them:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/indigen...story-of-indian-residential-schools-1.3643363

Historica Canada's newest Heritage Minute explores the dark history of Indian residential schools and their lasting effects on Indigenous people.

Novelist Joseph Boyden says he welcomed the opportunity to write the script for the video.

"This is something we need to talk about, and we need to recognize as Canadians, that our history is not always good," he said.

 

[Infinite Stars]

Oh Fuck off. Conservatives who try to deny the fucking inhumane shit Canada did with the Residential Schools is the worst. Like, the government forcibly ripped children from their families and tried to raise them to be "Canadian", but in the process ruined their lives.

Fuck anyone who denies that this was a disaster. As much as I like to jokingly say we don't have the number of skeletons other countries have, the skeletons we do have are awful.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Well intentioned?

Canada put over 1000 children into unmarked graves, no record of death, no notification to family.

Truly, a remarkable work.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada...d-in-unmarked-graves-report-reveals-1.2701373

 

[gutter_trash]

Can we please demolish the senate and make it actually accountable?

It's possible but would require a Constitutional Royal Rumble.

Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Provinces are against the aboliton of the Senate.

Only Western Provinces want it abolished.

......

Back on topic, any politician that presently defends those aweful Residential Schools are pure scum

 

[Derwind]

"I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants — perhaps some of us here in this chamber — whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged for the most part," she said.

And I say, from one Canadian to another, go fuck yourself.

 

[Fades]

Well intentioned?

Canada put over 1000 children into unmarked graves, no record of death, no notification to family.

Truly, a remarkable work.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada...d-in-unmarked-graves-report-reveals-1.2701373

They could only call it "well-intentioned" if their intentions are white supremacy and both cultural and literal genocide.

 

[DualReaver]

I did a spit take.

 

[gabbo]

It's possible but would require a Constitutional Royal Rumble.

Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Provinces are against the aboliton of the Senate.

Only Western Provinces want it abolished.

......

Back on topic, any politician that presently defends those aweful Residential Schools are pure scum

Conservative senator put in by Harper probably had 'scum' on their resume. Her opinion and expression of it, is deplorable. This is something we will always bear the mark of as a country, and using the "think of all the good things" argument shouldnt even exist.
Fuck you Lynn Beyak.

 

[Zoloft Sonic]

My wife is a social worker for aboriginal families in BC. The scope of destruction caused by residential schools is frankly (far, far) beyond the comprehension of most white people. The last ones who would ever understand this are the American political class.

 

[Savitar]

Yeah we got some up here in Canada too.........we're sorry.

 

[CazTGG]

My wife is a social worker for aboriginal families in BC. The scope of destruction caused by residential schools is frankly (far, far) beyond the comprehension of most white people. The last ones who would ever understand this are the American political class.

She's a Canadian senator.

 

[theignoramus]

Wasnt child molestation common at these schools too? Also, 6000 kids dying from disease and malnourishment is a staggering figure, especially if you consider the overall population numbers.

 

[Fades]

Wasnt child molestation common at these schools too?

Yes, mentioned in the OP. Residential schools were horrific.

 

[Turbo Killer]

Are conservative politicians just evil or out of fucking touch in every country?

 

[mdubs]

This is a Ben Carson level statement

Worth noting that this stuff is being taught in schools now, so children these days are aware of this.

 

[Sushi Nao]

Un-fucking-acceptable.

 

[ROUGE_BLOCK]

Watchong documentaries about these schools in high school and university and how high the suicide rates for teenager in indigenous communities to this was and is fucking tragic.

To this day I will never get the hate for the natives or conditions they still endure to this day. Hell many reservations have third world like conditions in places like Ontario.

 

[Atenhaus]

I'm taking a cultural anthropology class this quarter and we just started an assignment on America's and Canada's residential school system. How in the fucking hell could someone utter those words? It's completely indefensible.

 

[Mike Works]

edit: This idiot isn't even worth it. What a hugely ignorant thing to say. The Residential Schools are a stain on our country and fuck anyone who tries to defend a single aspect of them.

 

[Althane]

I'm taking a cultural anthropology class this quarter and we just started an assignment on America's and Canada's residential school system. How in the fucking hell could someone utter those words? It's completely indefensible.

I've started listening to The Traitor Baru Cormorant, which deals with this kind of school in the beginning chapters. Very chilling to listen to.

I'll admit, I came into this thread expecting it to be a good thing (American, with the DeVos situation here, 'Residential School System' doesn't have a malicious sounding tone to it, at least). But yeah, this is pretty fucked.

 

[Windam]

*sigh* The lack of respect for First Nations people and their history saddens me.

 

[gutter_trash]

Are conservative politicians just evil or out of fucking touch in every country?

both

 

[cryptosporidium]

Can we please demolish the senate and make it actually accountable?

Harper and Mulroney tried. Though according to some highup conservative networks I have theyre split on whether or not harper really tried.




Also what the hell lady, how can you be this thick


Edit: actually I cant COMPLETELY blame her (though I will) for her ignorance as it apparently wasnt even until the last decade that we started teaching about this shit in our school system. My profs have all said that basically anything aboriginal was gone from the school curriculum growing up besides maybe louis riel. Glad were kinda moving in the right direction now since Harpers apology (which according to one of my poli sci profs was a huge deal for the aboriginal community)

 

[gutter_trash]

Harper and Mulroney tried. Though according to some highup conservative networks I have theyre split on whether or not harper really tried.




Also what the hell lady, how can you be this thick

Senate reform at that level requires Constitutional Ammendement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amendments_to_the_Constitution_of_Canada

which in most cases requires approval from both the federal parliament and two-thirds of the provincial governments representing at least 50 per cent of the population, and in some cases require the approval of the federal government and all ten provincial governments.

so, the province count currently doesn't meet the requirement since the two big ones don't want to give up their biggest bargaining chip (Quebec + Ontraio), and the Atlantic Provinces see the Senate as more regional representation. So tally the total of 5 Provinces against Senate Reform or Senate Abolition.

+ Speical case Quebec sees any re-opening of the Consitituion as another chance to make more demands.

So abolishing the Senate right now is impossible

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

That's fucked up. I'm sure MPs will pen a strongly worded letter against her.

 

[gabbo]

That's fucked up. I'm sure MPs will pen a strongly worded letter against her.

I'd be suprized if Ambrose and other Con senators don't smack her down for it in public. This isn't a left/center/right issue.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

I hate that it took me until university to even learn residential schools were a thing. It sucks how much we tend to gloss over the shit we've done as a country, especially to First nations people.

 

[CazTGG]

I hate that it took me until university to even learn residential schools were a thing. It sucks how much we tend to gloss over the shit we've done as a country, especially to First nations people.

At least residential schools get some degree of discussion and is taught in high school. We all like to talk about the Underground Railroad, yet slavery in New France is almost never brought up, it's not even taught in school, to say nothing of how black people who came through the Underground Railroad from the were seen as nothing but cheap labour or the Alien Labour Act of 1897.

 

[NorthAndSouth]

Disgusting. Get rid of her. This isn't even ignorance, this is wilful deception about one of teh most shameful occurrences in the relatively short history of Canada as a nation.

Seriously, fuck this idiot.

 

[Flux]

We get taught how horribly mistreated the Native community was and is in our curriculum. Although it is still prevalent in people's minds that "the savages needed a saviour".

Still, Ben Carson wins this week's stupidest comment about past race relations.

 

[cryptosporidium]

At least residential schools get some degree of discussion and is taught in high school. We all like to talk about the Underground Railroad, yet slavery in New France is almost never brought up, it's not even taught in school, to say nothing of how black people who came through the Underground Railroad from the were seen as nothing but cheap labour or the Alien Labour Act of 1897.

I honestly have no idea what your talking about. which I guess is a problem

 

[CazTGG]

I honestly have no idea what your talking about. which I guess is a problem

Have some education!

Slavery in New France (Bonus: Marie-Joseph Angélique, a slave who was sentenced to death for burning down Montreal...or so she was accused of doing so.)

The Alien Labour Act

 

[ItIsOkBro]

I hate that it took me until university to even learn residential schools were a thing. It sucks how much we tend to gloss over the shit we've done as a country, especially to First nations people.

i learned about it in university as well. in a class about reading. from a guest speaker who happened to write a poem about residential schools.

 

[p_xavier]

I still can't believe how badly the feds treat the natives in Canada.

 

[Shaanyboi]

This is serious fucking denial on her part. Either from ignorance or utter indifference.

 

[CazTGG]

This is serious fucking denial on her part. Either from ignorance or utter indifference.

There's no way this comes from indifference: This is simply indefensible for a senator to defend residential schools in any capacity and whitewash Canada's history.

 

[Atenhaus]

MP who survived residential school calls for senator's resignation

I'd love nothing more than to see her shitcanned over her comments. What is the procedure (I'm American, so I don't know) to remove a Senator from their post?

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

i learned about it in university as well. in a class about reading. from a guest speaker who happened to write a poem about residential schools.

Holy shit, ouch. I learned about them in a social inequality class, but that is just maaaaan.

At least residential schools get some degree of discussion and is taught in high school. We all like to talk about the Underground Railroad, yet slavery in New France is almost never brought up, it's not even taught in school, to say nothing of how black people who came through the Underground Railroad from the were seen as nothing but cheap labour or the Alien Labour Act of 1897.

I didn't learn about them in my high school.

We covered Japanese internment but none of the other stuff you mentioned. Pretty wack.

One thing that jumps out at me as being pretty morbid in retrospect is that in middle school, we learned about First Nations people, then it covered early colonists, and then after that... Well, they didn't really put the pieces together, that's one way of putting it. When it all clicked for me much later why they abruptly stopped covering First Nations people, I felt pretty dirty.

 

[bremon]

When I was in high school the residential school system was mentioned but certainly not thoroughly explained. It sounded like some type of boarding school. It didn't sound like kidnapping, physical, mental and sexual abuse, starvation, mass graves, etc.

As usual, the truth has a way of coming to the surface, and, as is often the case, it's far more horrible than you initially thought.

 

[DyslexicAlucard]

This seems like it would be a more common thought in conservative circles than many would likely admit. A mindset where the residential schools were created to "save" the aboriginal people and make them more "civilized." In the minds of many at the time, and I'm sure some today, they were trying to "help" the native population.

"They had the best intentions! Not every teacher-priest abused the kids!"

It's just wilful ignorance, taking away the reality of what actually happened because you don't want to reconcile with the fact that maybe your for bearers did some fucked up things. And that is given a generous interpretation, not the obvious one where the Christians were essentially promoting cultural genocide under the guise of "education."

 

[Fades]

I was taught more about the horrors that took place in residential schools in English/language arts class (through conscientious teachers by way of novels and biographies) than I ever was in history class tbh. But that history teacher also tried to teach us that First Nations people were savages that needed to be civilized and other white saviour stereotypes, sooooo... That was only 10 years ago.

 

[Azuran]

I hate that it took me until university to even learn residential schools were a thing. It sucks how much we tend to gloss over the shit we've done as a country, especially to First nations people.

I learned about them in high school during my Grade 10 history class. But then again, my history teacher really wanted to show us the horror of history first hand. I think I remember watching a bit of Schindler's List in that same class.

 

[DyslexicAlucard]

I learned about them in high school during my Grade 10 history class. But then again, my history teacher really wanted to show us the horror of history first hand. I think I remember watching a bit of Schindler's List in that same class.

I hope your teacher didn't actually want that!

Sorry, semantic joke.