Can not accept the argument

Dear Editor: The removal of the statue of Sir John A. MacDonald seems to have (finally) caused some reaction by people with a different perspective than current politics embrace.

I will share three personal experiences which I believe reflect what John D. Thomas and Eva Webb are saying.

A number of years ago, before all the rhetoric was in full swing, I asked an Inuit woman, with whom I was having tea in my home this question: “Are you sorry the white people have come here?” “No,” she said. “Why?” I asked. “Because babies don't die” was her response. I asked her how many children she had and she said, “eleven.” I was surprised, as I knew of only the five who played with my children. “Where are the others?” I asked. She pointed to the graveyard on the hill.

Not so long ago, I was waiting for friends to finish their visit to a well-known indigenous cultural centre, and had the pleasure of a conversation with the native person who was on staff. We got talking about the residential school question and he explained to me that that had not happened with his tribe. He went on to explain that when the government people came and said the children needed to go away to school, the chief at the time said that the children were not going away – he would hire an Englishman to teach them at home. And he did.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a Haida woman. She is a very talented influential woman and the band’s accountant. I asked her where she had gone to school. “In Alberta,” she said. I was surprised and asked her how that had happened.

She explained that members of the Mormon church had come and persuaded