Canada Day

Canada Day is on Wednesday and while we are celebrating how great our country is, let's also remember it can be pretty shitty too.  We have quite a history of human rights abuses, and they continue to this day. We look at the US and comment on their racism, but it is alive and well here in Canada as well.  We do some things well, but really screw up a lot of other things and we need to improve a lot.  I don't want to sound so negative but I think we need to keep this in mind as we celebrate this week.  Given what has gone on in the past month with protests spurred by George Floyd's death, but kept going by so many more names (including many in Canada just in the last month), we have an opportunity to take this momentum and effect real change.

I'm sharing this video from Michael Moore's movie "Where to Invade Next?".  It is the part where he goes to Germany and remarks on how schools do not shy away from teaching students about the Nazis and the Holocaust, and that there are everyday reminders of what happened in that country, by Germans.  

I think you can say that the Nazis are in a class by themselves, but if you are Canadian, you do need to accept that there are atrocities that happened here when the Europeans came over to colonize the land, and since then, including of course the residential schools.  I know our kids are learning a bit about this now, but the rest of us need to catch up.

While you appreciate our country and all of its good things, also spend some time reflecting as well. 

Oh Canada!