The tragic reality is that what should have been a positive and respectful code of conduct degenerated over time into one in which government policies led to cultural genocide, assimilation, theft of land, denial of treaty and constitutional rights, racism, and increasingly punitive laws meant to control every aspect of the lives and deaths of the original inhabitants of what is now Canadian territory. If Canada and Canadians are going to reconcile with Indigenous Peoples, then the existing relationship—the one based on the Indian Act—has to be rebuilt. The past cannot be overlooked or
...more
