Addressing racism in Canada

"I am white." begins an article by Baynard Woods of South Carolina in the Washington Post.  Woods makes the point that the only way race can be addressed in America is if whites stop denying racism and act to stop it.  Other American commentators, including Jon Stewart, make similar points.  Take a moment to listen to Stewart.  It's well worth your time.

Jon Stewart

Like many of you, I have been pondering the Charleston, S.C. shooting and thinking about the issues of hatred and violence.  We have had shootings in Canada.  Montréal's École Polytechnique always comes to my mind -- 14 women students were gunned down by Marc Lépine for simply being who they were, women.  In Lépine's twisted mind, women attending the school were the embodiment of feminism and he saw the women students as usurping his entitled spot.  The engineering school and its women became a target for Lépine's hatred.

Similarly the Charleston shooter, Dylann Roof, has a sense of entitlement but for Roof, it springs from deep-seated racism rather than sexism.   South Carolina is a state that reeks of racism, from the Confederate flag flying over its legislature to the streets named for Confederate Civil War generals.  It shouldn't surprise anyone that in such a society, an alienated young man would blame his troubles on blacks or that he would act out his hatred in a building that helped launch the modern Civil Rights Movement, the Emanuel AME Church.

Why do I care?  After all, you might say, this is just in America.  Well not quite.  In Canada, our racism is directed toward aboriginal people.  Our police and army go after Native people -- think Ipperwash and Oka.  Even after the federal government's apology for residential schools, the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and now Manitoba's apology for the "Sixties Scoop", there are many First Nations children in foster care.  According to the 2011 National Household Survey, over ten times as many aboriginal children go into foster care compared to non-aboriginal children.  The reasons for this are complex but the discriminatory lack of educational resources and social service support in aboriginal communities and on reserves plays a large role.   Listen to the words of Dr. Cindy Blackstock.

If humanity is going to survive through the climate change crisis, we have to learn to put aside our differences.  It will take all of us, all of our hard work and creativity. Here are seven suggestions from the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada to help you get started.

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to spend some time talking with two First Nations elders.  I took away two lessons from our conversation.  One is that First Nations people have a lot to teach us about living sustainably on this earth.  We all need to listen and learn this before it is too late.  The other is that we have much in common.  We love our children.  We want a good future for them.  We want to see our grandchildren grow up to become caring, healthy and happy adults.  If you live in Ottawa, you have an opportunity to begin a similar conversation today.  Go to the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Arts Festival in Vincent Massey Park.  It's free.

I rather like this photo of Pope Francis.  It seems wholly human yet inspirational and he appears to be suggesting that we can do it.  Perhaps I'll give the last word to His Holiness who recently said in his encyclical, Laudato Si´:

His Holiness, Pope Francis

"I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.  We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all."