In the wake of the rediscovery of the graves of Indigenous students at the sites of various former residential schools, there has been discussion about whether this year’s Canada Day should be celebrated or not. In prepandemic times, the 1st of July would be a holiday, a day of festivals, fireworks, barbecues, drinks on a patio.

But what do we celebrate when we choose to celebrate Canada Day? Is it the sanitized version of history we were likely taught in school? Heroes (overwhelming white and male)? Is it the mistaken belief that somehow we are less racist that other countries? More peaceful, more inclusive?

Although I knew about residential schools, it is only recently that I have started reading the report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Learning the background and history behind the establishment of schools that took Indigenous student away from their families, their homes, their language and their culture.

I have heard and read people who say that the schools were a “good” thing. That the nuns, priests, teachers were well-meaning. That they did what they thought was best. That the children were “better off” in the schools. All of these comments miss their mark.

What those people neglect to remember is this: the stated purpose of establishing the schools in the first place was to “assimilate” the Indigenous people who stood in the way of expanding settlement. The church-run schools had a mission to turn the students into Christians and the government wanted to make way for more white settlers. Colonialism defined.

But let’s call assimilation in this case by its real name…cultural genocide.

Let that sink in.

On this website I found the following quotes from the architects of the residential school system:

“When the school is on the reserve, the child lives with its parents, who are savages, and though he may learn to read and write, his habits and training mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write. It has been strongly impressed upon myself, as head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.” John A. Macdonald, 1879

I have not hesitated to tell this House, again and again, that we could not always hope to maintain peace with the Indians; that the savage was still a savage, and that until he ceased to be savage, we were always in danger of a collision, in danger of war, in danger of an outbreak. John A. Macdonald, 1885

“I want to get rid of the Indian problem…..Our objective is to continue until there is not an Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.” Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs 1920

The schools were not successful in eliminating Indigenous people, but had long-lasting inter-generational effects that are well-documented. We see these effects everyday among our poor families, our struggling students, our homeless and our jailed population.

But I am not presuming to, nor capable of, examining the history and effects of residential schools in this post. There is plenty of information out there for anyone with the courage to explore.

No, I am trying to decide how to approach this Canada Day. When I deliberately called my blog As Canadian As Can Be, I did so because of all the threads in my genealogical tapestry. My ancestors include:

Indigenous women like Margaret Taylor, Genevieve “Jenny” Beignoit, Josephte Belisle.

Métis from the Red River Settlement like Thomas Hogue Senior and William McMillan .

French settlers like Olivier Tardiff, Jean Baptiste Bernardin, and Abraham Martin.

A Scottish fur-trader James McMillan, an Irish physician Dr. John Dease who became an United Empire Loyalist and an English sloopmaster with the Hudson Bay Company George Taylor.

My interest in genealogy started with finding out that Margaret Taylor was my great-great-great grandmother. I am proud to be Métis . I am proud to acknowledge all my ancestors, warts and all.

But my heart aches for the damage done by residential schools.

No country is perfect. So I think this Canada Day I won’t be celebrating some fantasy country that doesn’t exist.

But I will be grateful that I have the privilege to live in a country where most citizens are, I hope, willing to acknowledge the wrongs of the colonial past and pursue more quickly the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Every journey starts with a first step.