Happy Canada Day

[Dukasaur]

[mrswdk]

Why I choose not to celebrate Canada Day

Barbecues, fireworks, lots of beer and red and white all over the city. That’s what I see on Canada Day. Even when I’m not looking, I can hear the “Oh, Canada” chants from a kilometre away. But what are you really celebrating? Reflect on that for a minute. Patriotism? Pride? Freedom? Or maybe you just like a good party. I, however, cannot find a reason to celebrate alongside you.

In my opinion Canada Day is a hypocritical joke and no reason for fireworks, given its dark and fragmented history. I choose to not celebrate because of its colonial history and the untold human suffering it revels in. As an indigenous woman, I see Canada through a cracked, bloody lens, not through the rose coloured maple leaf-shaped glasses this country provides. I know there are indigenous and non-indigenous allies that share this sentiment, so I know I’m not alone.

Every day, we are forced to live with the continued theft of our land and resources—the broken treaties, the staggering number of missing and murdered sisters, the genocide of our peoples and the refusal to recognize our place in this nation. But on Canada Day, it hurts me to see people celebrating this country so blindly and forgetting the atrocities and lifetime of oppression that they’re praising.

We know this country was founded on corruption, lies and the dispossession of my ancestors, but still today it is not easy growing up indigenous. Why would I celebrate a country that is OK with the fact that I am three times more likely to go missing than a non-indigenous woman? Or that I am five times more likely to die a violent death? We live in a country that believes that proper housing, water, food and schooling are a privilege for a few and not a RIGHT for ALL. In a country where one in three people aren’t aware of the attempts made to exterminate our identity through the Indian Residential School system, where the political design was to assimilate us (along with the ongoing trauma and legacy it has left).

If what I’ve written comes off as a false representation of Canada Day, then I ask you to take a look at your way of life, your access to opportunities and your privilege.

If you have benefitted from colonialism in one way or another, than those responsibilities are yours to own. (To new citizens:, I encourage you to immerse yourself in learning about the history of this country and its indigenous peoples)

Ideally, for me, Canada Day would encompass everything it pretends to be: freedom, sharing, unity, prosperity and a healthy nation-to-nation relationship. But the relationship between Canada and its indigenous peoples today remains broken with an urgent need to be repaired.

Still, if you must celebrate Canada Day, make it a day to commemorate the lives lost as a result of this colonial system. Make it a point to learn about our history and its continued effects. But don’t be proud of it. Reflect on what this day means to the indigenous people on the land you are living on that has given you so much. Lastly, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How am I contributing to the nation-to-nation relationship?” and how we can work together to remedy the colonial legacy of this country so that one day it can be a place worth celebrating for us all.

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/why-i-ch ... id=4743623

[Dukasaur]

Some people just have to piss on a parade...

[william18]

Why I choose not to celebrate Canada Day

Barbecues, fireworks, lots of beer and red and white all over the city. That’s what I see on Canada Day. Even when I’m not looking, I can hear the “Oh, Canada” chants from a kilometre away. But what are you really celebrating? Reflect on that for a minute. Patriotism? Pride? Freedom? Or maybe you just like a good party. I, however, cannot find a reason to celebrate alongside you.

In my opinion Canada Day is a hypocritical joke and no reason for fireworks, given its dark and fragmented history. I choose to not celebrate because of its colonial history and the untold human suffering it revels in. As an indigenous woman, I see Canada through a cracked, bloody lens, not through the rose coloured maple leaf-shaped glasses this country provides. I know there are indigenous and non-indigenous allies that share this sentiment, so I know I’m not alone.

Every day, we are forced to live with the continued theft of our land and resources—the broken treaties, the staggering number of missing and murdered sisters, the genocide of our peoples and the refusal to recognize our place in this nation. But on Canada Day, it hurts me to see people celebrating this country so blindly and forgetting the atrocities and lifetime of oppression that they’re praising.

We know this country was founded on corruption, lies and the dispossession of my ancestors, but still today it is not easy growing up indigenous. Why would I celebrate a country that is OK with the fact that I am three times more likely to go missing than a non-indigenous woman? Or that I am five times more likely to die a violent death? We live in a country that believes that proper housing, water, food and schooling are a privilege for a few and not a RIGHT for ALL. In a country where one in three people aren’t aware of the attempts made to exterminate our identity through the Indian Residential School system, where the political design was to assimilate us (along with the ongoing trauma and legacy it has left).

If what I’ve written comes off as a false representation of Canada Day, then I ask you to take a look at your way of life, your access to opportunities and your privilege.

If you have benefitted from colonialism in one way or another, than those responsibilities are yours to own. (To new citizens:, I encourage you to immerse yourself in learning about the history of this country and its indigenous peoples)

Ideally, for me, Canada Day would encompass everything it pretends to be: freedom, sharing, unity, prosperity and a healthy nation-to-nation relationship. But the relationship between Canada and its indigenous peoples today remains broken with an urgent need to be repaired.

Still, if you must celebrate Canada Day, make it a day to commemorate the lives lost as a result of this colonial system. Make it a point to learn about our history and its continued effects. But don’t be proud of it. Reflect on what this day means to the indigenous people on the land you are living on that has given you so much. Lastly, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How am I contributing to the nation-to-nation relationship?” and how we can work together to remedy the colonial legacy of this country so that one day it can be a place worth celebrating for us all.

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/why-i-ch ... id=4743623

No one gives a f*ck about a minority female who feels bitter about a past that happened over a hundred years ago.

[mrswdk]

Why I choose not to celebrate Canada Day

Barbecues, fireworks, lots of beer and red and white all over the city. That’s what I see on Canada Day. Even when I’m not looking, I can hear the “Oh, Canada” chants from a kilometre away. But what are you really celebrating? Reflect on that for a minute. Patriotism? Pride? Freedom? Or maybe you just like a good party. I, however, cannot find a reason to celebrate alongside you.

In my opinion Canada Day is a hypocritical joke and no reason for fireworks, given its dark and fragmented history. I choose to not celebrate because of its colonial history and the untold human suffering it revels in. As an indigenous woman, I see Canada through a cracked, bloody lens, not through the rose coloured maple leaf-shaped glasses this country provides. I know there are indigenous and non-indigenous allies that share this sentiment, so I know I’m not alone.

Every day, we are forced to live with the continued theft of our land and resources—the broken treaties, the staggering number of missing and murdered sisters, the genocide of our peoples and the refusal to recognize our place in this nation. But on Canada Day, it hurts me to see people celebrating this country so blindly and forgetting the atrocities and lifetime of oppression that they’re praising.

We know this country was founded on corruption, lies and the dispossession of my ancestors, but still today it is not easy growing up indigenous. Why would I celebrate a country that is OK with the fact that I am three times more likely to go missing than a non-indigenous woman? Or that I am five times more likely to die a violent death? We live in a country that believes that proper housing, water, food and schooling are a privilege for a few and not a RIGHT for ALL. In a country where one in three people aren’t aware of the attempts made to exterminate our identity through the Indian Residential School system, where the political design was to assimilate us (along with the ongoing trauma and legacy it has left).

If what I’ve written comes off as a false representation of Canada Day, then I ask you to take a look at your way of life, your access to opportunities and your privilege.

If you have benefitted from colonialism in one way or another, than those responsibilities are yours to own. (To new citizens:, I encourage you to immerse yourself in learning about the history of this country and its indigenous peoples)

Ideally, for me, Canada Day would encompass everything it pretends to be: freedom, sharing, unity, prosperity and a healthy nation-to-nation relationship. But the relationship between Canada and its indigenous peoples today remains broken with an urgent need to be repaired.

Still, if you must celebrate Canada Day, make it a day to commemorate the lives lost as a result of this colonial system. Make it a point to learn about our history and its continued effects. But don’t be proud of it. Reflect on what this day means to the indigenous people on the land you are living on that has given you so much. Lastly, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How am I contributing to the nation-to-nation relationship?” and how we can work together to remedy the colonial legacy of this country so that one day it can be a place worth celebrating for us all.

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/why-i-ch ... id=4743623

No one gives a f*ck about a minority female who feels bitter about a past that happened over a hundred years ago.

On the contrary - read the article and you'll see that she is just as aggrieved with the society she lives in today as she is with the foundations that society was built on.

[william18]

Why I choose not to celebrate Canada Day

Barbecues, fireworks, lots of beer and red and white all over the city. That’s what I see on Canada Day. Even when I’m not looking, I can hear the “Oh, Canada” chants from a kilometre away. But what are you really celebrating? Reflect on that for a minute. Patriotism? Pride? Freedom? Or maybe you just like a good party. I, however, cannot find a reason to celebrate alongside you.

In my opinion Canada Day is a hypocritical joke and no reason for fireworks, given its dark and fragmented history. I choose to not celebrate because of its colonial history and the untold human suffering it revels in. As an indigenous woman, I see Canada through a cracked, bloody lens, not through the rose coloured maple leaf-shaped glasses this country provides. I know there are indigenous and non-indigenous allies that share this sentiment, so I know I’m not alone.

Every day, we are forced to live with the continued theft of our land and resources—the broken treaties, the staggering number of missing and murdered sisters, the genocide of our peoples and the refusal to recognize our place in this nation. But on Canada Day, it hurts me to see people celebrating this country so blindly and forgetting the atrocities and lifetime of oppression that they’re praising.

We know this country was founded on corruption, lies and the dispossession of my ancestors, but still today it is not easy growing up indigenous. Why would I celebrate a country that is OK with the fact that I am three times more likely to go missing than a non-indigenous woman? Or that I am five times more likely to die a violent death? We live in a country that believes that proper housing, water, food and schooling are a privilege for a few and not a RIGHT for ALL. In a country where one in three people aren’t aware of the attempts made to exterminate our identity through the Indian Residential School system, where the political design was to assimilate us (along with the ongoing trauma and legacy it has left).

If what I’ve written comes off as a false representation of Canada Day, then I ask you to take a look at your way of life, your access to opportunities and your privilege.

If you have benefitted from colonialism in one way or another, than those responsibilities are yours to own. (To new citizens:, I encourage you to immerse yourself in learning about the history of this country and its indigenous peoples)

Ideally, for me, Canada Day would encompass everything it pretends to be: freedom, sharing, unity, prosperity and a healthy nation-to-nation relationship. But the relationship between Canada and its indigenous peoples today remains broken with an urgent need to be repaired.

Still, if you must celebrate Canada Day, make it a day to commemorate the lives lost as a result of this colonial system. Make it a point to learn about our history and its continued effects. But don’t be proud of it. Reflect on what this day means to the indigenous people on the land you are living on that has given you so much. Lastly, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How am I contributing to the nation-to-nation relationship?” and how we can work together to remedy the colonial legacy of this country so that one day it can be a place worth celebrating for us all.

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/why-i-ch ... id=4743623

No one gives a f*ck about a minority female who feels bitter about a past that happened over a hundred years ago.

On the contrary - read the article and you'll see that she is just as aggrieved with the society she lives in today as she is with the foundations that society was built on.

The natives didn't build anything. They were quickly muscled out because their society was evolutionarily inferior. The foundation's of Canada's society was the British and French empires.

[william18]

Cheers. I see your in Niagara. I was raised in Burlington.

[Dukasaur]

Cheers. I see your in Niagara. I was raised in Burlington.

Cool. I was working in Burlington all week last week.

[DoomYoshi]

Why I choose not to celebrate Canada Day

Barbecues, fireworks, lots of beer and red and white all over the city. That’s what I see on Canada Day. Even when I’m not looking, I can hear the “Oh, Canada” chants from a kilometre away. But what are you really celebrating? Reflect on that for a minute. Patriotism? Pride? Freedom? Or maybe you just like a good party. I, however, cannot find a reason to celebrate alongside you.

In my opinion Canada Day is a hypocritical joke and no reason for fireworks, given its dark and fragmented history. I choose to not celebrate because of its colonial history and the untold human suffering it revels in. As an indigenous woman, I see Canada through a cracked, bloody lens, not through the rose coloured maple leaf-shaped glasses this country provides. I know there are indigenous and non-indigenous allies that share this sentiment, so I know I’m not alone.

Every day, we are forced to live with the continued theft of our land and resources—the broken treaties, the staggering number of missing and murdered sisters, the genocide of our peoples and the refusal to recognize our place in this nation. But on Canada Day, it hurts me to see people celebrating this country so blindly and forgetting the atrocities and lifetime of oppression that they’re praising.

We know this country was founded on corruption, lies and the dispossession of my ancestors, but still today it is not easy growing up indigenous. Why would I celebrate a country that is OK with the fact that I am three times more likely to go missing than a non-indigenous woman? Or that I am five times more likely to die a violent death? We live in a country that believes that proper housing, water, food and schooling are a privilege for a few and not a RIGHT for ALL. In a country where one in three people aren’t aware of the attempts made to exterminate our identity through the Indian Residential School system, where the political design was to assimilate us (along with the ongoing trauma and legacy it has left).

If what I’ve written comes off as a false representation of Canada Day, then I ask you to take a look at your way of life, your access to opportunities and your privilege.

If you have benefitted from colonialism in one way or another, than those responsibilities are yours to own. (To new citizens:, I encourage you to immerse yourself in learning about the history of this country and its indigenous peoples)

Ideally, for me, Canada Day would encompass everything it pretends to be: freedom, sharing, unity, prosperity and a healthy nation-to-nation relationship. But the relationship between Canada and its indigenous peoples today remains broken with an urgent need to be repaired.

Still, if you must celebrate Canada Day, make it a day to commemorate the lives lost as a result of this colonial system. Make it a point to learn about our history and its continued effects. But don’t be proud of it. Reflect on what this day means to the indigenous people on the land you are living on that has given you so much. Lastly, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How am I contributing to the nation-to-nation relationship?” and how we can work together to remedy the colonial legacy of this country so that one day it can be a place worth celebrating for us all.

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/why-i-ch ... id=4743623

No one gives a f*ck about a minority female who feels bitter about a past that happened over a hundred years ago.

Wrong. We care if it is the Uighur Muslims or the Taiwanese or the Tibetans or non-communists in China.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

I am 1/64 native and need to rant against something so I can feel special.

[riskllama]

mrs, stay the f*ck out of this thread. in return, i will happily not post in your "happy china day" thread.

[DoomYoshi]

I will celebrate by eating some λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων, aka Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­parao­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon

(It being the 183rd day of the year and the English transliteration containing 183 letters)

[tzor]

The natives didn't build anything. They were quickly muscled out because their society was evolutionarily inferior. The foundation's of Canada's society was the British and French empires.

At least not compared to their southern neighbors who formed the Iroquois Confederacy and produced the first constitution in North America, which partially influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States.

In fact French missionaries had considerable inroads into the Confederacy. When the British first came in, this lead to considerable consternation, especially given the extreme anti Papist sentiment of England. In New York, for example, Catholic priests were barred from the colony and it was a crime punishable by death for a Catholic priest to be caught ministering to a native.

[tzor]

Trivia Question. What was the original name of Toronto (before it was incorporated as a city)?

[riskllama]

springfield, duh.

[ConfederateSS]

------------Happy Canada Day --------To The C.S.A.'s Northern Iroquois Friends....Man what a ballgame....19 inns...whew!....The natives have to win sometimes. Canada can win tomorrow... ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion).

[Dukasaur]

Trivia Question. What was the original name of Toronto (before it was incorporated as a city)?

Obviously I'm disqualified from answering. We'll see if any non-Canadian knows.

Here's a bit of Canadian trivia I just learned last week:
In the original version of lacrosse, as played by the Iroquois and others, the only rule was that you weren't allowed to kill anyone. It wasn't against the rules to hit people with your stick, or even to trip, wrestle, or bite them. In fact, if a lacrosse player didn't come home with a few broken ribs he was considered to probably have shirked his duty.

[EBConquer]

Love Canucks... happy day guys!!!!

[DoomYoshi]

So now that the day of celebration has passed, let's talk about Canada's "Least Convenient Minority" - the Anglophones of Quebec.

There are approximately one million anglophones in Quebec, and barely over a million francophones in the rest of the country yet while French-Language service is guaranteed in most cases to francophones, the anglophones of Quebec get the shaft routinely. This country needed the reform party to be elected and then lead an invasion into Quebec (a la Sudetenland 1938) to rescue them.

The French are a despicable disease and they speak a gross language. The hyprocrisy is disgusting considering these are the same homunculi* who willfully extirpated the motherland of all manner of languages from Provencal and the other Occitans to Breton, Catalan, Basque, Gallo and Corsican.

It's a sick joke that the UNESCO institution which catalogues and documents the heinous crimes of the French actually publishes the book in French!!!

Today I vow to burn my entire collection of the Pleiades - every single one of them which I have collected up until this point in my life (which does not preclude me, of course, from starting another collection).

Spoiler

*I suppose this point needs some clarification since many of you may not realize that all citizens of Quebec are in fact, one and the same, as the French criminals. They were all there to light the pyre on which Joan of Arc died and they are all equally guilty for this.

[EBConquer]

Hate to be a turd, but it's only 10:30 or so over there. Maybe they need another hour and a half.

Edit: you're not still celebrating?

[ConfederateSS]

Trivia Question. What was the original name of Toronto (before it was incorporated as a city)?

-------From the Mohawk word....Tkaronto..."where there are trees standing in the water."...Many Tribes met at "The Narrows" and drove stakes(pickets) in the water. Which looked like trees. ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion).

[jonesthecurl]

Actually it's named after the sound of the herds of elk that used to wander freely. As they galloped past you would hear
torontorontorontoronto...

[tzor]

-------From the Mohawk word....Tkaronto..."where there are trees standing in the water."

Nice try, and thanks for playing. There are several theories for the origin of the word, but that word was originally used to describe the lake and the islands, not the town.

There are several explanations for the source and meaning of the name "Toronto". One claim is that the origin is the Seneca word Giyando, meaning "on the other side", which was the place where the Humber River narrows at the foot of the pass to the village of Teiaiagon. Another is that the term is from the Mohawk word tkaronto meaning "where there are trees standing in the water", which could refer to either Toronto Bay (Toronto Harbour) or Lake Simcoe, Lake Simcoe being at one time known as Lake Toronto. As the portage route grew in use, the name became more widely used and was eventually attached to a French trading fort just inland from Lake Ontario on the Humber.

OK, I'll give you a hint. The town was named after the Fort. That basically removes the chance for any Indian name, because Europeans never named their forts after native terms.

[Dukasaur]

-------From the Mohawk word....Tkaronto..."where there are trees standing in the water."

Nice try, and thanks for playing. There are several theories for the origin of the word, but that word was originally used to describe the lake and the islands, not the town.

There are several explanations for the source and meaning of the name "Toronto". One claim is that the origin is the Seneca word Giyando, meaning "on the other side", which was the place where the Humber River narrows at the foot of the pass to the village of Teiaiagon. Another is that the term is from the Mohawk word tkaronto meaning "where there are trees standing in the water", which could refer to either Toronto Bay (Toronto Harbour) or Lake Simcoe, Lake Simcoe being at one time known as Lake Toronto. As the portage route grew in use, the name became more widely used and was eventually attached to a French trading fort just inland from Lake Ontario on the Humber.

OK, I'll give you a hint. The town was named after the Fort. That basically removes the chance for any Indian name, because Europeans never named their forts after native terms.

Nobody seems to want to play this game so I'll end the suspense. Toronto was originally the town of York, built around Fort York, seat of the future County of York and later the Judicial District of York. The County of York no longer exists. Some of the boroughs of Toronto, York and North York and East York, still show evidence of its existence in their names and borough Seals. The Judicial District of York has been subdivided, most of it is now in the Region of York which is actually north of the City of Metropolitan Toronto and no longer official connected to it.

The French always gave forts European names, but the British were actually quite willing to use native names. The most famous example would be Fort Ticonderoga, but there are others.