MAILBOX: Your Letters

First Nations need more than an apology

I am an elder from Lheidli T’enneh First Nation. I am responding to Mr. Doug Strachan’s letter, re: apology enough for First Nations amidst all the deplorable records of abuse by the Government of Canada towards the Japanese, Chinese, Germans, some Europeans and beyond.

It would seem there is not enough history to avoid the abuses of the future, so while he says let’s move on and an apology should be enough, it is not.

This might do for the immigrants whose rights were not protected by the governments from their homelands, it may have been an escape like we are seeing from the refugees being rescued from war and brought to Canada.

Maybe in 10 to 50 years another generation of politicians will be making an apology to these immigrants because the government in 2016 was not prepared for the numbers coming. We have churches and citizens pouring in support anywhere from teaching them English to housing to health to supplying everything down to the clothes on their backs.

First Nations whose country is Canada have lived in refugee camps and because the government provides onerous, restricted and punitive benefits for payment of freedom and pillaging the lands, nothing much has changed for Canada’s First People. So is an apology good enough? No. Perhaps it was and is the plight of our people who serve to do better for refugees while our people live three generations to one home; have no drinkable water and no infrastructure even though the rivers run right next to reserves in P.G.

So while you look from the outside and make judgment, I suggest you direct comments to the government because it certainly seems to be a model that works to support their neglect and destruction of everything and maybe in the future they will apologize to your children.

To every immigrant Canadian, remember aboriginals were not looking to escape their homelands.

What happened to us was done by the newcomers. In truth this was about a take over and we were the victims!

First Nations had no place to go. This was our country no matter how you dress up.

Until you have walked in our moccasins, keep your misguided thoughts to the Government of Canada. Jo-Anne Berezanski

North Saanich