It’s time to hear grievances of our First Nations

Some will be frustrated with First Nations’ protests raining on Canada’s 150th anniversary parade. They will lean on the old argument that this is a time for celebration — not a time to dwell on past shortcomings.

However, some in indigenous communities who say they haven’t felt a part of this nation for 150 years can as legitimately argue now is precisely the time to be heard.

On Wednesday, a group of indigenous demonstrators kicking off a four-day Canada Day “reoccupation” protest by attempting to erect a teepee on Parliament Hill caused a furor among many in the non-indigenous community.

According to the demonstrators, about 15 to 20 people were arrested and ordered to keep away from Parliament Hill for six months — notwithstanding their argument that construction of a teepee should be seen as a religious ceremony. Social media reveal RCMP officers removing one protester as others yelled “Let our people go” and “shame.” On Thursday, some protesters restated that indigenous peoples have no reason to celebrate 150 years of colonization. Some blamed the media, whom they called racists.

Welcome to Canada’s 150 birthday party, folks.

But rather than simply becoming huffy over those spoiling the celebration of what still remains a great nation, let us demonstrate how great we are by acknowledging past wrongs.

And let’s make this an even more productive exercise by also acknowledging the gains. Recognizing both is what we need to do if we are to move forward. To accomplish this, a little history may be in order.

The major treaties came after Confederation in 1867 with treaties 1 through 7 signed between 1871 and 1877, and treaties nine through 11 signed between 1899 and 1921. As such, most treaty territories of 2,4, 6, 8 and 10 were all established well before present-day Saskatchewan joined Confederation in 1905. (Problematic is the historical reality that the treaty signings were rushed to accommodate the advancing European settlement of the West and the coming Canadian Pacific Railway.)

By now, we all must know we all are treaty people. We must consider the language of the treaties in the context of a modern-day First Nations issue like Treaty Land Entitlement, in which it took Canada more than 100 years to provide First Nations land to which the treaties said First Nations were entitled.

And we need to start putting more meaningful thought as to what that may mean as First Nations press forward with legal arguments on natural resource sharing.

It is as important to hear all such grievances from today’s First Nations people — including past grievances like the cultural genocide perpetrated upon them not just by Canadian society, but also by the federal government in official policy as seen through its promotion of residential schools.

This may spoil the taste of tomorrow’s birthday cake, but we cannot ignore the outcomes that directly play into inter-generational poverty, drug abuse, alcoholism and family breakdown. It is not enough for the rest of us to say: “Get over it.” We have no right to say that when First Nations continue to live in the aftermath.

It isn’t up to us to tell First Nations people whether or not they should be celebrating, but it would seem that First Nations’ survival and existence today is worthy of celebration.

And while it is important to acknowledge the shortcomings of the first hundred years, it is also important to note the progress made in the past 50 years — which has seen former prime minister Stephen Harper’s apology on residential schools, TLE agreements, urban reserves, Idle No More and work on missing and murdered indigenous women. We are clearly demonstrating new-found respect for one another, as demonstrated in the recent renaming of National Indigenous Peoples Day and the Langevin Block, recently renamed because Hector-Louis Langevin was an architect of the residential school system.

It is time to move forward with better understanding on both sides, which should include First Nations people dispensing with terms like “settlers,” “colonizers” and “racists” in describing their modern-day treaty partners.

Maybe we can’t celebrate together yet, but as Canada turns 150, we can surely move forward together.