Awakening

Aisling was Irish, a citizen of Canada brought up by colonial teachers and parents who were heavily indoctrinated by the colonial systems. In kindergarten and primary school, her teachers played movies with native characters and symbols to attract her attention.

It all seemed like a fairytale to her. “They are cartoon characters, they don’t exist.” She told herself.

In elementary school, her history teacher commanded Aisling to open her history textbook. She lazily opened the heavy book and read the title ‘Indigenous People’. “They don’t exist anymore, they are only historical characters. Who cares about history anyway?” She told herself again with a groan. She thought her teacher was rambling about some useless subject that she would never need in her life.

In high school, her perspective slightly began changing as she started focusing on her history classes for better grades. Her teacher, Mr. William began speaking about first contact with Indigenous people and the Europeans. “They traded fur with the Europeans when they landed in Canada.” He said, “They had many tribes all across Canada who at one point helped the European settlement.”

Aminah nodded, it again all seemed like a fairytale to her. She knew they existed at one point in time, but to her, they did not exist in reality.

Residential schools came as a major topic in her history course, she was surprised to hear that the most honourable Sir John. A. Macdonald was the first to begin the practice of Residential schools. Her teacher took the subject lightly, “Indian kids were forced and abused to attend these schools in attempts to change them into civilized Catholics.” Her teacher continued professionally, leaving the subject brief and short. She felt a slight pain for them, but to her, nothing felt real.

Her parents and teachers continued telling her that Canada is a peaceful country; always was and will be. This country has given freedom and lawful rights to all its residents, and the government is always fighting for the good.

She nodded feeling satisfied.

As she continued with high school, she felt connected with history. She continued to take a few more courses before graduation, digging deeper into the relationships of the Europeans and Indigenous people. She learned that Indigenous people believed in spirits, their ancestors held strong traditional beliefs. She continued learning how First Nation women were forced to marry European settlers after first contact and helped them. Their children were soon known as ‘Metis’, and sometimes the men would leave their family.

Residential schools as well came up again, and this time the teacher emphasized that many First Nations died and it was a cruel society back then. It was cultural genocide. Aisling felt severely hurt and empathized with them.

“Historical Europeans were cruel. Canada’s past was not pleasant as other people today think.” She thought. She was suddenly interested in this topic, she wondered why they were even treated so horribly. She had later made a strong vow to herself that she’ll continue uncovering this topic as she grew up.

As she entered University, much force was placed on these subjects of Indigenous communities of the current time. They all seemed like a reality now, Indigenous people really existed and have changed over time. Hearing about the honest cruelty and the harsh torture on Indigenous people by the colonial system, she felt broken and dreadful. Canada and the colonial system did not look wonderful and heroic to her anymore. The residential schools, murdering, and missing Indigenous people was a major issue in Canada. Canada was still as bad as history, improving at a slow pace leaving many Indigenous people in misery. She didn’t like how Indigenous people (i.e. both men and women) were barely given any significance in Canada. They deserved better justice than any other settler in Canada (having the right to live and practice their traditions freely).

She felt dreadful for not believing and unintentionally being ignorant about Indigenous people earlier in her life. She made a strong promise to herself that from now on she’d pray for them, keep a physical connection with the Indigenous people in her community, and would give them a hand if they ever needed it.

She would change for the good.