I am currently struggling with the movement towards
reconciliation in Canada. Because I said that I will now be labelled a racist,
a bigot, intolerant, an abusive husband and father, a drug addict, homophobic, a
dangerous driver, an illegal immigrant, and all sorts of other racial slurs and
negative terms.
Sidestepping the main point of my post for a second – this type
of response is why people are scared to voice their opinions. I get that all
the time in my position on Town Council too. People will message me privately
to support something Council is doing or my stance on an issue, but they won’t
engage publicly, because the public conversation is a diatribe against anything
implemented by those idiots in government who haven’t got a clue what the
regular people think about anything. Support those idiots and you will be raked
over the coals along with them.
So back to reconciliation. After a lengthy conversation with
friends last night on this subject I was prompted to look up the definition of
reconciliation. It means the restoration of friendly relations. I think this
definition is fantastic and I would love to see it applied to the
reconciliation process in Canada. One of the individuals involved in the
discussion last night brought up the point that in order for reconciliation to
happen there needs to be an identification of the hurt and then forgiveness. That
means that at some point we need to move past the hurt. We don’t stay there
indefinitely. At what point does that hurt become acknowledged and the
forgiveness can come?
I tend to get a little irritated when I am asked to feel
guilty for the hurt that has been caused. I have not been involved in causing this
particular hurt. My ancestors escaped to Canada from bitter persecution in
Ukraine in 1925. Wait, what? My ancestors
were hurt too? I am not responsible for this particular hurt. I do
acknowledge that the First Nations people were dealt with unfairly when Canada
was being settled by European immigrants. There are lasting effects of this
that are still being felt today. All of this is true. I do not want to minimize
that the government of the time tore families apart with their residential
schools and their harsh policies. I can acknowledge this hurt and I would like
to move past that into forgiveness please (forgiveness not towards me since I wasn’t
involved in causing this hurt, but forgiveness to the perpetrators of the hurt).
One of the ideas that has been floating around in my head for
the past couple years is that drawing dividing lines between groups of people
is only going to serve to divide those groups of people. I know, this is incredibly
inspired thinking. If we want to reconcile and live together in harmony, stop
implementing policy that is going to pit one group of people against the other.
Stop enacting legislation that gives one group of people an advantage at the
expense of the other group. Stop funding the lifestyle of one group with mandatory
taxation of the other group. Aha! There it is – I said it. I truly believe that
we will never be able to move past the rift between First Nations and non-First
Nations until we remove that particular financial dividing line. That is the
biggest one. That is the one that hurts Federal taxpayers the most – in their wallets.
We can try and try and try all sorts of different strategies, but as long as
the financial dividing line exists nothing will work. It just feels inherently unfair
to those being taxed. Yes, the First Nations people were treated unfairly also
when Canada was being settled. Does this mean we need to be unfair to others today
to somehow even the score for past wrongs? The past wrongs weren't perpetrated by this generation!
I have a different idea of reconciliation. Why don’t we live
together in freedom to practice whatever culture we want? I would love it if a
First Nations family would move into the house right beside me. I would have
them over for a BBQ and a lazy afternoon in my backyard while our children
played together. Let’s level the playing field to foster a mindset that we are
all in it together. Remove all the dividing lines mandated by government. If
you want to engage in the type of lifestyle I choose, come on over and let’s
live together in harmony. If you want to engage in a different type of
lifestyle that’s good too, just don’t force it on me because that’s not what I
choose for myself. We can choose what we want and then move in that direction.
Back to my second paragraph…
What have I just done to myself now that I have voiced an opinion and
asked some questions that are not in line with mainstream views for reconciliation?
What will be the backlash for me? What names will I be called?
