Overshadowed By U.S. Atrocities, Has Canada Gotten A Free Pass Of Its Own?

Respected by much of the world as a leading proponent for human rights, Canada has usually been considered a safe haven, a kind of “eye of the storm” if you will for those fleeing U.S. atrocities. There is proof that thousands of black slaves did escape to Canada where they found freedom, and that Native Americans and conscientious objectors sought safety from U.S. persecution and wars. But some are starting to question - and uncover - just how many of its own atrocities were committed. Overshadowed by the sheer brutality of the U.S.’s own mass carnage, has Canada consequently gotten a free pass of its own?

First Atrocity Is Always Against The Truth
As much as others have tried, it’s hard to redeem Canada’s trans-continental, mini empire. This is especially true as Canadian researchers try piece together a century-old mystery into the disappearance and alleged death of thousands of indigenous students who vanished during the 19th and 20th centuries.. While some might be aware of how the British and French purged and, in some cases, eliminated entire Indigenous Tribes, few are familiar with more than 150,000 indigenous students that were sent to state- and religious-run boarding schools between 1883 and 1998 in an effort to assimilate them.

What’s more, many of the abuses have been glossed over. Not only were some children thrown in cold showers late at night after being raped, but others were tied and bound for days without food. This included severe beatings and being forced to stand for hours.(1) Schools also punished children if they tried to speak their native tongue or dress in native clothes. Forced to learn the English version of history and language and to sing the national anthem for hours, it was tantamount to brainwashing. If any refused, they were called “dog” and made to get down on all fours and eat rotten eggs and vegetables.(2)

Although Canada’s government did finally issue an official apology in 2015, which included a report from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee that described the institutionalized abuse and neglect as “cultural genocide,” it’s still not sure how many thousands of students died while attending boarding school. This is because there were so many deaths that they quit keeping records. Meanwhile, torturous screams could be heard miles away. One former resident recalls how they always found human remains all over the fields. She witnessed her friends commit suicide during and after their release as well.

Second Atrocity Is Always Against Facts
Canada is also hailed as a free-state where African-American slaves could escape via the Underground Railroad from 1840-1865. Although some did find freedom, others weren’t so fortunate. According to “Canada’s Dark Secret-Featured Documentary,” a number of escaped slaves were shipped off and sold to farms and ranches in Canada’s western plains or logging and mining industries in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. Some worked years before they earned their freedom. Others were captured by Canadian bounty hunters and returned for a price. Even then, parts of Canada remained segregated until 1983.(3)

It’s also taught that Canada was a refuge for thousands of Plains Indians fleeing the U.S.’s scorched-earth policy and Prisoner Of War Camps. But scholars are starting to find that the Canadian government and several provinces collaborated with the U.S. Army to hunt down and capture cross border trekkers-for a price of course. And then there were the Canadian militias and bounty hunters complicit in mass genocide. Both were in fact as ruthless to the Plains Indians as the U.S. Army. Along with using rape as a weapon of war, they too mercilessly slaughtered the Plain Indians main food supply: buffalo.

This comes on the heels of a new poll as part of Women’s History Month. Like the U.S., it showed that most - 55 percent of Canadians - don’t know about the accomplishments of Canadian women. Do they struggle with a misogynist and patriarchal culture too? The poll also coincided with new details of how Canada’s massive fossil fuel subsidies is undermining its own climate initiatives to curb emissions; and a citizen’s petition that overwhelming called on parliament to lift all U.S.-backed sanctions against Venezuela. Parliament rejected the petition on the grounds of democracy - no joke!

Born Of Contradictions And Atrocities
One thing Canada hasn’t rejected is more arms sales to Saudi Arabia which is conducting a war of attrition and indiscriminate bombing against Yemen. With the ongoing sterilization program against indigenous peoples, and the First Nations’ fight to reclaim ancestral lands and mineral resources exploited by corporations, much like the U.S. Canada is a nation born of contradictions. It too only granted rights to large land owners and the privileged few while committing unspeakable-and untold-atrocities. Thinking it was “exceptional,” it too excluded the standards of right and wrong.

Some hope by making Canada’s atrocities known that people won’t remain silent-let alone complicit. They also want to protect the knowledge and histories of First Nations, including many treaty obligations that went unfilled. Although much of the damage has already been done and erased, meaning it can’t be undone, there’s still something incriminating about Canada’s historical landscape which speaks of many atrocities. The same goes for Canada’s future and whether it chooses to submit to the U.S.’s sphere of influence or resist. This includes Canada’s claim to be a proponent of human rights.

To be sure, a nation never invents human rights. Human rights in a very real sense always invents the nation.(4)

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.theguardian.com. “Canada Confronts Its Dark History of Abuse in Residential Schools,” by Mali Ilse Paguin. June 6, 2015.
(2) “Canada’s Dark Secret-Featured Documentary.” Al Jazeera Enlish.
(3) www.blackhistorycanada.ca. “End Of Segregation In Canada.” Black History Canada.
(4) Note: This quote is attributed to former President Jimmy Carter.