Ongoing Residential Schools Tragedy Discussion

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by _Q_

Remove the names of every white dude that died before 1980 from all of our buildings, schools or any other public spaces.

More likely than not, they're probably being glorified today for some pretty terrible stuff.

Better yet, don't put anyone's names on anything, because it's silly.

[Macman]

Maybe it's time for a separate Indigenous government instead of just another department like Indigenous And Northern Affairs Canada, Seamus O'Regan was actually the minister of this for a while!

I've been thinking about this before, how is it beneficial to Indigenous people to just be another portfolio in the government which changes a lot. I get not everything gets undone from the previous government but it's just to big and that's why I think it should be a separate thing because there are just way to many issues. Like how do so many people still not have potable water? How long does it take a new minister to get up to speed if ever?

Also to many racist people still, like don't blame the government for not teaching you how not to be racist. It's like we need a campaign for that as well. "Why are you so Racist" could be the slogan.

[Coys1882]

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but the Church really isn't getting enough heat in all this compared to the federal government.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by _Q_

Remove the names of every white dude that died before 1980 from all of our buildings, schools or any other public spaces.

More likely than not, they're probably being glorified today for some pretty terrible stuff.

Maybe? It doesn't have to be white dudes, but removing anyone for doing terrible stuff is just fine for me. If Mr. Shaganappi was behind some terrible ####, then sure, change it to Freedom Trail, I don't care.

But to be clear, it isn't an accident that most of the bulidings/schools/bridges are named after white dudes, right?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

CliffFletcher has the weirdest viewpoints on this topic.

Yep, there's something burning through in the body of work, for sure.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Macman

Maybe it's time for a separate Indigenous government instead of just another department like Indigenous And Northern Affairs Canada, Seamus O'Regan was actually the minister of this for a while!

I've been thinking about this before, how is it beneficial to Indigenous people to just be another portfolio in the government which changes a lot. I get not everything gets undone from the previous government but it's just to big and that's why I think it should be a separate thing because there are just way to many issues. Like how do so many people still not have potable water? How long does it take a new minister to get up to speed if ever?

Also to many racist people still, like don't blame the government for not teaching you how not to be racist. It's like we need a campaign for that as well. "Why are you so Racist" could be the slogan.

Or maybe make the Canadian senate a First Nations only body with senators elected from the different tribes across this country. Allow them to strike down any of the white man's laws that wouldn't benefit their nations.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by rubecube

This is such a stupid "I'm 14, and I think this is deep" post.

Originally Posted by jayswin

Yep, there's something burning through in the body of work, for sure.

[Careful, I think you might be cancelling someone.]

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Better yet, don't put anyone's names on anything, because it's silly.

Unless specifically because it's silly, of course.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but the Church really isn't getting enough heat in all this compared to the federal government.

It was being discussed but then a couple people started in with their #NotAllCatholics takes and successfully shifted the conversation.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Maybe? It doesn't have to be white dudes, but removing anyone for doing terrible stuff is just fine for me. If Mr. Shaganappi was behind some terrible ####, then sure, change it to Freedom Trail, I don't care.

But to be clear, it isn't an accident that most of the bulidings/schools/bridges are named after white dudes, right?

It's just such a bizarre take. Like if there was a high school named after Bill Cosby and people wanted to change it, would we really be like "But think of all the contributions he made to comedy! Sure he did some bad stuff, but if we change the name of the school, then how will people learn about him?"

[Macman]

Originally Posted by _Q_

Or maybe make the Canadian senate a First Nations only body with senators elected from the different tribes across this country. Allow them to strike down any of the white man's laws that wouldn't benefit their nations.

Something has to give or change for sure. I believe former PM Paul Martin is quite involved with Indigenous issues. I think he was quite involved in Manitoba with education and First Nations people there for a while and maybe still is.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Oh, do you think we're getting moral gratification out of this? Hardly. I feel ashamed for not understanding what indigenous people faced in these schools and for my prejudices while growing up. I want to understand what happened and I'm motivated to do what it takes to begin to atone.

For you to think we're getting our jollies off this is beyond weird.

I was referring to renaming buildings, roads, schools, etc.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I was referring to renaming buildings, roads, schools, etc.

Yeah, but the fact you think the main motivation behind that is "moral gratification" says quite a lot about you.

[afc wimbledon]

My kid goes to Lord Selkirk School in Vancouver and I hadnt a clue who Lord Selkirk was until I looked it up about 2 minutes ago due to this conversation, I was pretty much sure he was a dead British white guy from the 19th century, I wasn't wrong.

Naming anything after dead British white guys doesnt 'inform' anyone of anything, its just a random name on a school.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Macman

Something has to give or change for sure. I believe former PM Paul Martin is quite involved with Indigenous issues. I think he was quite involved in Manitoba with education and First Nations people there for a while and maybe still is.

Our biggest step back in recent times was when Harper abandoned the Kelowna Accord. It seemed like we were close to really doing something concrete, and he just tossed it away. Shameful. Maybe we should name our airport after him, though.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I was referring to renaming buildings, roads, schools, etc.

And sorry, what do you think people are getting out of it?

[blankall]

As far as the naming thing goes, many of the names are just old heads of church. These weren't people who played a major role in founding the country. At the time they were celebrated for Christianizing the savages, which used to be seen as a very high end goal. Now we see this for what it was, stripping another society of their culture. So why do we need to keep the old names? Why do we have secular structures/institutions named after religious figures in the first place?

And why were we naming anything after Langevin. He was a disgraced politician who had to leave politics due to a major corruption scandal. Even before society had realized the horrors of the residential school system, Langevin had been disgraced.

[fulham]

Originally Posted by _Q_

Remove the names of every white dude that died before 1980 from all of our buildings, schools or any other public spaces.

More likely than not, they're probably being glorified today for some pretty terrible stuff.

Pretty much every single person who lived before the 80's has views that would render them ineligible for public praise by the loud minority whom complain about these things.

In Victoria there was a (valid)strong attempt to change the names of many streets, and buildings named after settlers in the 1600's onwards. They tried to replace many with the names of ancient natives chiefs/figures on the west coast. But they ran into the same problem; most of these native figures committed genocide, or enslaved ethnic minorities, and committed severe war crimes against other native tribes in their own quests to dominate.

[GirlySports]

Unnaming everything is probably the solution.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Unnaming everything is probably the solution.

Yes, its part of the solution actually.