This indigenous Cree writer, residential school survivor and lawyer, goes on a rant about the gross injustices that indigenous people have endured since the arrival of white men in what is now Canada. She is also the author of Five Little Indians; that documents extensive and systematic abuses in great detail.
About the only part of this story that I was not familiar with is her discussion of the white paper of the Pierre Trudeau government, presented by then junior minister Jean Chretien that shamelessly recommended that all special considerations for native art, culture, writing, and land ownership be eliminated and that they should simply be assimilated into the white man’s culture.
There is no recognition in this screed that indigenous people themselves seldom speak with one voice, nor any mention of the special problems that Inuit people have endured.
Not much new here, but a stark reminder of our shameful past.
3/5
The Passionate Reader 