That Couldn't Be True: Restorying and Reconciliation

http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/21/that-couldnt-be-true-restorying-and-reconciliation/
Date Written:  2019-08-21
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23791

To achieve reconciliation with Indigenous people Canada must let go of the myth of itself as a benevolent force in the world.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The Canadian nation-state presents itself to the world as a benign peacekeeper and benevolent force for good in the world. This myth washes over us and leaves us unwilling and reluctant to face up to our past as a white settler colonial state. If we did a few nasty things in the past, well, that was the past and let’s get on with living for today. We are a multi-cultural, tolerant society these days after all. But in the last two or three decades a controversial fire-storm has exploded into our national psyche. First Nations peoples have initiated Truth and Reconciliation hearings to tell their story of life in residential schools. They want to tell non-Aboriginal Canadians the truth, demand that Canadian history be restoried, apologies given by churches and governments, reparations provided and reconciliation processes be initiated....

We want so badly to believe national, patriotic myths about how peace-loving and tolerant we are as Canadians. Thus, given how deeply non-Aboriginals want to deny our racist past with its consequences very much evident today, and how deeply Aboriginal peoples do not trust their governments, how might reconciliation be even possible? Answer: not easily.