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“INDIGENOUS PEOPLE SHOULD JUST GET OVER IT AND GET ON WITH LIFE”

                                                                    
                                                                    William Okemow1 

                                                                      August 15, 2018 


I think the serious teaching of Indigenous history should be implemented in the school curriculums all across Canada. The true story, not what the colonial white man decides to write. It is an essential part of the history of the country and it is missing. - Claudine Sampson2 


Whenever I hear the phrase “Indigenous people should just get over it and get on with life" from people from of other ethnic backgrounds, primarily people whose ancestors came from Europe, I often have a kind of reflex action to believe "yeah it’s true", that it’s something that happened in the past, something neither my parents or yours had control over. But there is another reaction I am having these days. Let me ask you, how would you feel about being put, often by force of one kind or another, on a small piece of land where nothing, or nothing much, can grow, near a river or lake you can't fish in because its be polluted by careless oil spills by some faceless company. Also, how would you feel about having underfunding for your education and a general lack of resources in your community? How about being faced with racism as a daily occurrence? But still, yes, logically Indigenous people maybe should just get over it and move on with life. 

We have been nearly wiped out from the land that you so proudly occupy. There are traditions, stories and teachings I, and my brothers and sisters, might never learn. Trauma and hurt are being passed down from generation to generation. Take the residential school, they were not as good as people were made to believe at the time. As a matter a fact they were very hurtful. Many families lost their children, nieces and nephews. Children lost their language and connections. Is that really something you would just get over and move on with? The last residential school only closed down not so long ago, in 1996. Many indigenous women go missing on a yearly basis, without officials really looking for them in a serious way. They are often regarded and labelled as just another “run away", just another indigenous woman who does not want to be found. It could be, unusually is, a sister, a mother, or someone’s daughter. It seems so easy to tell another ethnic group to get over it and move on with life when you haven’t experienced it yourself. 

But one last time, "Why don't we", you might ask, "get over it?" (But I hope that you would be asking yourself too). Well, there were promises made to the Indigenous people of this land.
They are called treaties, promises for good education, good health care and safe places to live in exchange for the loss of our lands. These promises have not been kept, not even close. So, Indigenous people live in a country where they are often forgotten about, the country only ever responds when the rest of the world sees Canada forgetting its responsibility to its own Indigenous nations. Of the examples given to you so far, is this something, honestly, you would just get over and move on with?

They are called treaties, promises for good education, good health care and safe places to live in exchange for the loss of our lands. These promises have not been kept, not even close. So, Indigenous people live in a country where they are often forgotten about, the country only ever responds when the rest of the world sees Canada forgetting its responsibility to its own Indigenous nations. Of the examples given to you so far, is this something, honestly, you would just get over and move on with?



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1 William Okemow is a student in the Anishnawbe Health Centre Toronto - George Brown Community Health Worker Training Program and is a member of the Cree Nation.

 2 Claudine Sampson is a student in the Anishnawbe Health Centre Toronto - George Brown Community Health Worker Training Program and is a member of the Six Nations




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