I don’t know how to process this. I’ve sat there like Judgey McJudgerson looking at the US with their racial divides and wonder how it got that bad. How do they tolerate such horrific treatment of black Americans? Why can’t they all just get along and stop the racism? Then a story like Colten Boushie comes along and reminds me that we’re (Canada) just as bad, if not worse in our treatment of our Indigenous People.
We’ve put these people on reservations that are just like living in poverty. We’ve taken their children away to “improve their quality of life” … with white parents. Their drug and alcohol abuse rates are significantly higher than the average Canadian, along with their suicide rates. We tend to look down our noses at “Native Canadians” as less than, and we seem to not be bothered by it. We were raised to believe they were lazy, entitled, less-than … we were raised as racist bigots. The treatment of these people is horrific, yet Canadians seem more concerned about any other suffering people in the world, rather than those on their own doorstep.
What bothered me most is the more I read about the crime and horrific miscarriage of justice, the more it came apparent that our laws are so outdated and designed to serve the white man, the sicker I felt.
· The fact that the three young men in the car with the victim were taken into custody for questioning before the white man who SHOT the victim.
· The fact that the defence was able to dismiss any juror that appeared aboriginal at all to load the jury with white men SCREAMS of the injustices of early 1900 America.
· The fact that Canada does not have laws allowing one to use deadly force yet still, this man literally got away with murder makes my stomach roll.
I’m outraged; I’m sickened but is it enough to spur action? What can I do? I know I can raise my children to not be bigots. To not judge people based solely on the colour of their skin, or where they were born. That every Canadian deserves the same access and protection to the law and that the laws that disadvantage a specific segment of the society need to change.
We must not let Colten die in vain. I hope he becomes the catalyst for change for the betterment of the First Nations.
