Utterly disgraceful (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

The Daily Observer
Ottawa, CA

Utterly disgraceful

Editorial - Saturday, June 16, 2007 @ 09:00
http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=574253&catname=Editorial&classif=

For over 100 years, aboriginal children, about 150,000 of them - Metis,
Indian and Inuit, some only five years old - were yanked out of their homes
and jammed into residential schools, some hundreds of miles from their
families. They were not allowed to speak their native language, many died
from tuberculosis and others suffered sexual, emotional and physical abuse.

In a shameful attempt to cover their butts, governments passed legislation
that made it illegal to resist giving up these children, thus legalizing
cultural assassination.

The scars are still visible today. Many natives have high rates of alcohol
and drug abuse. Some commit suicide, and the level of domestic violence is
higher than normal. Phil Fontaine, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations,
says, correctly, "This is the most disgraceful, harmful racist act in our
history."

Given this history and the documented facts, it was heartening to see 270
MPs vote to apologize, but it was mostly symbolic since Prime Minister
Stephen Harper has refused to issue an official apology. In fact, he sent
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice out to say such an act could be years
away. There is a word for the government's action, it's "disgraceful."

There are still 80,000 natives alive to whom it applies.

The Harper government continues to stall on what is an abomination. It sits
on its hands despite the fact the Chretien government admitted in 1998 that
native students had been badly treated, and in 2005 a compensation offer of
$2 billion was introduced for surviving students. But in the meantime, a
sneaky band of Tories has decided that a special investigative commission
will travel across Canada before any apology is issued. This is a stubborn,
hard-hearted stance, and the prime minister should be ashamed of himself.