ROTHENBURGER: Residential schools are nothing to celebrate, but they’re certainly something to acknowledge and to learn from, not on one day but on all days.
A new national holiday around the issue of
reconciliation is a good idea if it’s
done right. If it’s just going to be about the sad
legacies of residential schools, never mind.
Kamloops residential school, in the late 1950s (Image: Government of Canada) |
And — let’s speak frankly — if it’s going to
focus only on the bad things brought to our country by the European “settlers,”
as they’re now popularly called, that’s not going to work either.
I’m having trouble visualizing 10,000 people
showing up at Riverside Park or at the Powwow grounds to listen to stories
about the terrible things that happened in residential schools but I do see
such a day becoming little more than an excuse for predominantly white civil
servants to take another stat holiday.
Canadians are becoming educated about
residential schools. They’re nothing to celebrate, but they’re certainly
something to acknowledge and to learn from, not on one day but on all days.
If, on the other hand, we were to have a true
celebration of reconciliation as a two-way street, an opportunity to discuss
the very meaning of the word, now that would be worthwhile.
Because, let’s face it, the way things are
going with reconciliation, as many wedges are being driven in as there are
obstacles being removed. We run a serious risk of retrenching racism in this
country instead of getting past it.
Many, many non-indigenous people recognize
the wrongs of the past and want to do something about it, but there’s a risk of
backlash if they sense an imbalance in the spirit of reconciliation. And
indigenous people can be forgiven their frustration at slow progress.
So why not a day of festivals across the
country aimed at true mutual reconciliation, a genuine celebration of what’s
been accomplished and an acknowledgement, in friendship, that it’s a work in
progress.
Nobody needs to give up anything, to concede
anything, just come together.
From the reaction to the Trudeau government’s
proposal so far, neither indigenous nor non-indigenous peoples are convinced a
Reconciliation Day holiday would accomplish anything. But with open minds, it really could.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
Mel
Rothenburger is the former Editor of The Daily News in Kamloops, (retiring
in 2012), and past mayor of Kamloops (1999-2005). He is currently the Area P (Rivers and the Peaks) representative
for the Thompson Nicola Regional District.
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