First Nation Canadians: Why do you not celebrate Canada day?

I'm not Aboriginal myself, so my answer may reflect that, but hopefully I'll get it right. From what I understand, many First Nations people do not recognize Canada as a legitimate power in this land, because it was their land first. It would be weird to celebrate the birth of a nation that stole your land and whose citizens forced such hardships on your people. Natives are faced with racism. Up until recently it was institutionalized like racism against black people was in America. There were separate schools that they went to, where many faced abuse and were taken from their families, and a lot was done to stamp out their culture. Many Natives nowadays live in poverty, are alcoholics, and are in prison. Most of these problems stem from their oppression as a people. The difference between the Canadian oppression of Native people and American oppression of Black people is probably the personal aspect. In America, it seemed the people themselves fueled the hate. They wanted to lynch people and beat them and many crimes against them were done by individuals. The Canadian oppression is more systematic. We didn't want to kill them, we just wanted to make them white. In essence, rather than killing the person, we kill their culture. Both cases are unforgivable, and are blights on the history of our countries.

I am Lakota, My husband is Mohawk. We livw in Ontario. We don't celebrate Canada day and we taught our children not to stand foe O Canada. Would Tibetians celebrate China? Would Irish celebrate England? Of course not, they occupy thier lands, dening their soverignty. Same thing. Nothing to do with how SOME canadians are racist. It is about the theft of our land (continued) the broken treatys, the genocide of our people etc etc. Why on earth would we celebrate that? And to top it off there is this: under international law a treaty is an agreement sighned bwtween 2 INDEPENDANT NATIONS without negating the independance of either NATION. We didn't lose, we signed treatys with you, Nation to Nation, living side by side....this has not been the case, which means your government is occuping our lands.

This full Status Ojibwe Native definitely celebrated Canada Day, side by side with the hundreds of other Canadians who turned out for the local festivities. While I don't agree with many things the government has done in the past, I don't hold it against our future nor the peoples of Canada and I cannot dispute the fact that Canada is one of the greatest countries in the world to live in. The level of poverty is decreasing all the time. I wish I could say the same about the level of racism. I see it every time I use my Status card in a store, for PST exemption. Automatically it makes the cashier's demeanour drop from hospitable to frosty. I just remind myself that the racist people are the ones who perpetuate the drunken Indian stereotypes and are not worth my time. Thankfully its a small minority of the Canadian population and are usually people who have never met a Native in their life.

I don't know any First Nation people who celebrate Canada Day. But for many of us it’s more of a fact that many mainstream celebrations/events were not apart of our traditions rather than a political statement. Yes, many First Nations are impoverished. But, in many areas of the country the First Nations are achieving greater economic opportunities for their communities than in the past. One of the major contributing factors was that the First Nations took over their education systems in the 1980s. Prior to the 1980s, the Native Education Policy was that the Native People were only suited to manual skills and students were not prepared for higher education. In the early 1970s you could almost count on your fingers the number of First Nations students in college/university programs across Canada. In the past 20-30 years we have educated our own teachers, social workers, medical staff, lawyers, administrators and business people. The second major factor was that in the 1980s, for the first time, banks extended their money lending policy to First Nations people. First Nations people were able to access loans which promoted entrepreneurship and business development. Now many First Nations are rapidly moving inline with the surrounding mainstream economic situation. First Nations often experience racism on many levels similar to the Black population in the USA. But, there are several factors that make racism in Canada different than in the USA. Firstly population-wise Canada is a young country. People came from many different countries mostly from Europe and, more recently from other non-European countries. Unlike the USA “melting-pot”, Canada is a multi-cultural country and the First Nations are viewed as part of that multi-cultural fabric. Many Canadians know much more about their Native people's history, issues and problems than Americans know about their Native People. Most see the problems faced by the Native people as systemic. Very few promote the American idea that “We won, you lost, so get over it“. But at the same time there are a fair amount of Canadians who think First Nation people benefit at their expense. So on a personal level First Nations face racism and discrimination alone. But, on a crisis level, Canadians are quick to respond in support or as observers to ensure that the situation is not reported as one sided, particularly in Ontario. In Ontario there are many Non-Native groups who are educated in the First Nations issues throughout the province and they watch those situations closely. Those groups not only include private citizen's groups, but also many unions, grassroots and environmental groups. It's astonishing how quickly those groups can respond enmasse to a crisis situation. As a First Nations person who has seen that process in action, I no longer feel First Nations are alone in their struggles. ======================== Just to respond to some of the statements made by others. When Canada was colonized. Treaties and monetary settlements were made. That money is held in TRUST by the GOVERNMENT. The government allocates that money as outlined in the Indian Act, to the First Nations on a per-capita and formula basis. That money is distributed in block funding. Based on projected needs, the First Nations assign a portion of their money toward education, social services, health, public works etc. The money used by First Nations is their own money, it’s not FREE money given to them by the government or taxpayers. ------------------------ Indian Moneys Program Indian Moneys means all moneys collected, received or held by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of Indians and/or bands. There are two types of Indian moneys: capital and revenue. The Indian Moneys program is responsible for the administration of Indian moneys held within the CRF for the use and benefit of Indians and/or bands. Indian moneys are managed pursuant to sections 61 to 69 of the Indian Act Indian Moneys Program http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/br/bm/imp-eng.asp The reason that some taxes are not collected on First Nations is that, taxes are used to provide services to Canadian citizens. The First Nations people have their “own” money to pays for “on reserve” services. That is the reason those taxes are not collected. If a First Nation person lives or works off the reserve they pay the same taxes as every other Canadian. There is no FREE education. First Nation students attending elementary, secondary or post secondary institutions are charged tuition which is paid by their First Nation from their allocated budgets. Education is a priority in the economic success of the First Nation communities. On my First Nation, the money for post-secondary education is limited. There are strict requirements and responsibilities placed on our students to receive any sponsorship. Our educational money is paid on a semester basis and if any student falls below expected achievement, the sponsorship is terminated and in some cases must be repaid. As a result many of our students are in the top percentile of their programs and many make the Deans list. Nothing is just handed to them on a silver platter. .

They may not clebrate Canada day, but they sure do love our money, and our social support systems. With the millions of tax payers dollars that have been flowing to the Natives for the past 60 years, since the end of WW2, when will they be able to stand on their own feet, with out Canada propping them up? The obvious answer is never, why would they bother ? The best thing that could happen is for the Indian Act to be revoked along with the whole land claims nonsense, and we give each one of them a one time cash grant of one million dollars, kids included, but that would be the last dollar they ever get. After that they sink or swim like ther rest of us in Canada. Sounds like a lot of money, but in reality it would be a bargain. Jim b. Toronto.

It's probably a little closer to the level of poverty and racism generally experience by first-generation immigrants from Latin America, both legal and illegal. Some do celebrate. Because it's basically one big party. And who doesn't love an excuse to party? But some don't. I read one editorial in our paper saying that that (a specific native man) didn't want to celebrate because he didn't feel Canadian. Canada, essentially, took his people's land, desimated their culture and killed off masses of the population by trading them blankets infected with smallpox. The arrival of 'Canada' ended their entire way of life. Why would they want to celebrate that? Their case is helped by things like the Indian Act, which prohibited a large variety of activites (including, for quite some time, voting) and residential schools where native children were removed from their homes to be educated in the White culture and White languages. The schools existed into the 1970s I believe. They are known best for the rampant and disgusting sexual abuses that went on in many of the schools. I'm not native Canadian. I live a disputed land claim, but I am caucasian.

This doesn't have anything to do with racism, but a lot to do with history. Canada day celebrates the anniversary of the formation of the Confederation of Canada, which took place in 1867. The First Nations people were here long before that, so it really isn't a significant date for them. But in fact, in a great many places, the First Nations people do take part in local celebrations, in many cases, welcoming Canadians to the First Nations traditional lands.

Well, I'm not North American Indian, but I studied their culture in grade 12 and I have an honest answer for this. You have two sets of Native people. The one set are people who understand that the past is the past and have gotten over themselves. It is not today's generation that (unintentionally) brought over the smallpox in the 1600s and killed the chief. Yes, they were massively hard done by, but it was generally by the government and not the citizens. The Metis people are a good example of a progressive tribe. People who have gotten over themselves are called Non- Status Indians and participate in Canadian events. Status Indians are another story. There are exceptions, but very few. They live on reserves, live rent free, get their tuitions paid for because of a long protracted government apology and still b *tch and whine. They are exempt from many of the taxes 'whitey' pays for. I use to live near a reserve and I know for a FACT some of their government cheques can add up to about 2000 dollars: this is something they don't want people to know about. Then the Status Indians complain that they are stuck on a reserve. These are the same people who refused to live like 'the white man' when Trudeau proposed that we rid of reserves and all become equal citizens. The truth is, Status Indians want the freedom to own property and what not, but still keep their government cheques. Another thing: reserves are crap. The policing is corrupt and the government is secretly nepotistic, which angers people of today. An 'inherited' political position may have worked hundreds of years ago, but does not work now. As for alcoholism, seriously, they don't have anyone to blame for that than themselves. There are TONS of government programs that specifically deal with alcoholism on the reserve. Monetary and sociological speaking, the Status Indians have many opportunities to attend university and become successful, but instead many of them prefer to hold a grudge and barricade roads. They have a 'the government owes me' mentality. I am a working class individual, trying to pay for my schooling with zero government assistance because- believe it or not- you have to have money to take out a loan. Times in my life, my family and I have been flat out poor. I don't owe Status Indians a f ***ing dime; I didn't take a p* ss on your grandfather's grave, and you weren't exactly the most passive group of people to negotiate with, so let's all stop trying to stand up on a soapbox. The war is over. EDIT: Cheques the Status Indians pretend they don't receive are: GST, Family Allowance, Treaty. As well as multiple bursaries, scholarships and cuts in the school systems. As well, they seemed to be very much against the Olympics until they were bought out for millions of dollars by Vanoc. And by the way, First Nations Studies of British Columbia is the course I took; I also wrote the provinicial exam for it, so I'm not just making all this up by subtle obsrvations. My family also took in a Native girl during the residential schools government phase (which was terrible) in the 70s, so it's not like I'm derived from some redneck family. However, my family lived in a northern town back in the 70s when this was going on, and they clearly remembr games of 'step over the passed out Indian' and 'don't sell four bottles of vanilla to that guy off the reserve because he's not going to bake a cake with it'. I just have a big problem with the fact that whatever illegal or amoral stunts First Nations people pull, they always feel the need to point to history as an excuse for their actions. Wouldn't it seem a little silly if I acted arrogant towards society, then went ahead and used my Jewish heritage as an excuse?