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Old 06-19-2017, 02:23 PM   #1
Zarley
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It's very interesting to see David Johnston criticized for stating a fact:
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Gov. Gen. David Johnston apologized publicly Monday for referring to Indigenous Peoples as immigrants as he bestowed honours on 29 people — including the frontman of the Tragically Hip — for their efforts in furthering indigenous causes.

Johnston told the investiture ceremony he misspoke when he said during a CBC Radio interview aired Saturday that the roots of Canadian immigration extend all the way back to include indigenous people.

The comments, aired on CBC’s politics program “The House,’ touched off a flurry of criticism on social media, where some listeners complained that Johnston’s remarks reflected a deep-seated colonial mentality.

“Let me apologize for not expressing myself correctly on this matter recently,” Johnston told Monday’s gathering, which followed an apologetic tweet of his own earlier in the day.

“Indigenous Peoples are the original peoples of this land.”
Link to Story

While there's no denying that First Nations are the original peoples of this land, that doesn't preclude them from having migrated here from Asia, a theory which is well supported by DNA evidence. Why is saying this considered taboo?

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Old 06-19-2017, 02:26 PM   #2
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As an immigrant I am offended by this.
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Old 06-19-2017, 02:30 PM   #3
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So stupid. Everyone outside of the great rift valley could be called immigrants.
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Old 06-19-2017, 02:35 PM   #4
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If you have to dig back to almost the dawn of humanity to get to the "they're immigrants too!" argument you might be reaching a little far don't you think?
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Old 06-19-2017, 02:43 PM   #5
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They have been in North America for at least 15,000 years. They are not immigrants since at the time, most if not all humans, were nomads. Nation states did not exist and neither did the concept of an immigrant.

Look at Europe as an example. A lot of the ethnic groups that settled in the areas where their corresponding nation states exist today, only 1,500 years ago when the Romans collapsed. But we certainly don't refer to them as immigrants.
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Old 06-19-2017, 02:59 PM   #6
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Things will get better for humanity when it stops becoming so necessary to make sure everyone has their proper labels attached to them at all times.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:01 PM   #7
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They have been in North America for at least 15,000 years. They are not immigrants since at the time, most if not all humans, were nomads. Nation states did not exist and neither did the concept of an immigrant.

Look at Europe as an example. A lot of the ethnic groups that settled in the areas where their corresponding nation states exist today, only 1,500 years ago when the Romans collapsed. But we certainly don't refer to them as immigrants.
Fair enough, but at what point does a group of people cease to be categorized as migrants? Would you still consider Quebecois descendants of the early settles of New France immigrants? They've been here for over 400 years.

In context, the Gov. General's point is fairly innocuous in that all Canadians can trace their history to migration - it's a common thread that unites people (of course you could say this about nearly any place in the world). I'm just having trouble understanding why anyone would take offence to a banal symbolic statement.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:19 PM   #8
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Fair enough, but at what point does a group of people cease to be categorized as migrants? Would you still consider Quebecois descendants of the early settles of New France immigrants? They've been here for over 400 years.

In context, the Gov. General's point is fairly innocuous in that all Canadians can trace their history to migration - it's a common thread that unites people (of course you could say this about nearly any place in the world). I'm just having trouble understanding why anyone would take offence to a banal symbolic statement.
I think if you're the first ones there or the longest surviving people in a place you're not immigrants. Makes sense to me so I'm going with it.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:25 PM   #9
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Either way, it doesn't really matter. The term, immigration, only makes sense when there are established political boundaries. I tend to think that terming indigenous people under a single umbrella as original peoples is fair, but kind of stretches any real notion of shared identity or settlement.

Safe to say, that they exist as an enormously heterogenous population of people that were indispensable to the creation of Canada.

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Old 06-19-2017, 03:26 PM   #10
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kid gloves....

can't wait for the day no one is offended!
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:44 PM   #11
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I'm just having trouble understanding why anyone would take offence to a banal symbolic statement.
It's most likely because the people offended by it had their homeland taken away from them by immigrants, and after everything they've gone through since aren't too receptive to the notion of being called immigrants as well since it somewhat implies that their land was never truly their's to begin with.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:50 PM   #12
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It's most likely because the people offended by it had their homeland taken away from them by immigrants, and after everything they've gone through since aren't too receptive to the notion of being called immigrants as well since it somewhat implies that their land was never truly their's to begin with.
That's actually not how it worked at all. Before European contact, there was no national identity or homeland at all. The concepts didn't exist.

Before contact, indigenous peoples continuously fought over territory, and pressed advantages whenever and wherever they could.

I am of the strongest opinion that First Nations people deserve fair treatment and justice, but idealizing them as innocent babes until they were victimized through contact with Europeans is incredibly racist.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:53 PM   #13
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Default ‘North Americans’ believed to be at least 100,000 years older than thought

Evidence found of giant animal being butchered in California 1,300 centuries ago

https://www.ft.com/content/5748cd52-...8-168383da43b7
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:59 PM   #14
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Indigenous people didn't sprout out of the ground and live in harmony with nature and their neighbours. They hunted many large mammals to extinction, waged war and drove one another off prime resources, and enslaved neighbours when they had the opportunity. They were just as acquisitive, short-sighted, and predatory as the rest of humanity.

We need to grow up and stop regarding history like a Hollywood movie.
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Old 06-19-2017, 03:59 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by ResAlien View Post
If you have to dig back to almost the dawn of humanity to get to the "they're immigrants too!" argument you might be reaching a little far don't you think?
Perfectly reasonable in my opinion, transgressions against land and people know no statute of limitations.

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Old 06-19-2017, 04:14 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by peter12 View Post
Either way, it doesn't really matter. The term, immigration, only makes sense when there are established political boundaries. I tend to think that terming indigenous people under a single umbrella as original peoples is fair, but kind of stretches any real notion of shared identity or settlement.

Safe to say, that they exist as an enormously heterogenous population of people that were indispensable to the creation of Canada.
There were also those 11 or so treaties signed by Canada which treated various tribes as distinct sovereign entities. Thats a huge issue that is not against but adds to the good point you make here. The SCC is holding Canada to those treaties, although they seem to be hurting each party to them in the long term.
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Old 06-19-2017, 04:18 PM   #17
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There were also those 11 or so treaties signed by Canada which treated various tribes as distinct sovereign entities. Thats a huge issue that is not against but adds to the good point you make here. The SCC is holding Canada to those treaties, although they seem to be hurting each party to them in the long term.
And the indigenous partners - particularly Treaty 7 - were only able to coalesce the various geographically and cultural disparate tribes together into an effective bargaining unit through the use of force.
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Old 06-19-2017, 04:36 PM   #18
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That's actually not how it worked at all. Before European contact, there was no national identity or homeland at all. The concepts didn't exist.

Before contact, indigenous peoples continuously fought over territory, and pressed advantages whenever and wherever they could.

I am of the strongest opinion that First Nations people deserve fair treatment and justice, but idealizing them as innocent babes until they were victimized through contact with Europeans is incredibly racist.
I'm not sure how you are making any connection to racism in my post. It wouldn't have mattered who took the land. If tribe A would have taken land away from tribe B, the members of tribe B probably wouldn't like being referred to as members of tribe A. Some white Canadians don't like being mistakenly labelled Americans, and vice versa, so if someone called a Canadian an American they might offend them, where others might not be offended. What is the issue with apologizing to someone who felt offended?
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Old 06-19-2017, 04:37 PM   #19
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I'm not sure how you are making any connection to racism in my post. It wouldn't have mattered who took the land. If tribe A would have taken land away from tribe B, the members of tribe B probably wouldn't like being referred to as members of tribe A. Some white Canadians don't like being mistakenly labelled Americans, and vice versa, so if someone called a Canadian an American they might offend them, where others might not be offended. What is the issue with apologizing to someone who felt offended?
What are you talking about? The issue here is about calling someone a native (in the literal sense, please) and an immigrant.
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Old 06-19-2017, 04:38 PM   #20
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I kinda get the anger at this one. "Sean McIrishguy" and "Gaston le Frenchdude" whose forebears immigrated in the 1800s or whatever are just never called immigrants. White people in North America often just aren't, even when they fit the definition of an immigrant to a tee.
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