Indigenous folks placed 2nd in the oppression Olympics here in canada so the media is very happy to perpetuate narratives on the suffering of indigenous folks even if specific stories they select aren't true. Which seems to be the case with these unmarked graves. There's also clearly theft of taxes here with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to unearth the remains and not a single shovel hitting the ground.
The role we play is we vote. I'll explain my positions to anyone that isn't a nutter (limited to friends and family) but outside of that its just plain voting.
I really appreciate the story as a microcosm of our time
Completely selfless men and women volunteered for thankless jobs uplifting remote indian communities at christian boarding schools. They did it for a purely humanitarian reason, with missionaries and nuns trying to spread the word of god and save the souls of children and improve their lives.
here is an older writing about John West as he settled into what is Manitoba today, and his mission:
Quote
Social conditions at the time of Mr. West's coming were in many ways as bad as they could be throughout the territory of the great trading Company. It is not to be wondered at, that such was the case.
The background is dark--it is the savage life, not without its nobler elements indeed, but lacking the power if not the will to give freedom and control. The cruel man, the suffering woman, the neglected child, was everywhere. The Indians did not cultivate the soil, though it was exceedingly rich and vast in extent. Consequently they had neither settled abode nor substantial dwellings, nor regular and abundant supply of food. Hunting was the only source of physical existence, hence they must needs wander, suffer cold, go hungry, and even starve to death. Warfare on the slightest provocation aggravated the suffering of the weaker ones among them as much as it delighted the young fighting men. Vengeance was the reigning law and scalping the typical treatment meted out to captured enemies.
Until the arrival of Mr. West the Indians were untouched by the finer elements of our civilization. It is difficult to write with restraint of this long neglect and its consequences in multiplying the sorrows of the women and children of this race. Heretofore civilization not only withheld the touch of its soothing hand and the dynamic of its redemptive force, but it scarred the body afresh and poured in vials of moral disease. The rum-keg was the currency of the region, for which the Indians parted with the meagre results of their chase and with their young women as well. It is shocking to think that the gentlemen adventurers of the Hudson's Bay and their families in the old land, members of the Christian Church no doubt, could live for many decades in full enjoyment of the profits of trade with the natives roving on the bleak shores of our arctic seas and the Christless plains of the Canadian West, and yet give no heed to the Indian's cry for the Bread of Life. It is no wonder Mr. West burned in his indignation and cried out, "My soul is with the Indians."
Today they are ruthlessly vilified as if they ran concentration camps
The nuns who gave the best years of their lives to helping children are treated as villainous sex offenders
We spit on their legacy and Indians demand reparations. They identify the graves of children as if childhood mortality wasn't high for every group in the 19th century, and indeed incalculably higher for children who stayed with their 'first nation' parents.