[suebee]

Originally Posted by betenoire

I presume she meant because both Canada and the US had abusive residential schools that First Nations children were shipped off to. (since that's what the link she posted was about. well, the link was about the ones in Canada she didn't mention the ones in the US - although I'm certain she's aware of those schools in the US.)

Canada and the US share some really abhorrent historical practices. We both had slavery. We both had abusive church run and government funded residential schools with the aim to "westernize" First Nations children. We both had internment camps for Japanese, German, and Italian Americans and Canadians during WWII.

Oh, I understand what she meant. But it's much too easy to post a link to a page called "hidden from history" - which sounds sensationalist - and then abandon ship. The story of the residential schools was FAR from hidden, though it might come as a surprise to Americans, who aren't taught as much Canadian history as we are American. Every time a conversation about racism comes up it seems that somebody posts a link to prove Canada had internment camps for Japanese-Canadians or that slavery existed here too. I think the difference is the level of racial tension that exists in our two countries at the present time. For some reason it hasn't evolved the same way for both of us. The current racial climate is much more volitile in the States than Canada. And I think the way we deal with civil rights is different too. The subject of this thread is a fine example of this. Individual rights are protected with such ferocity in the States that collective rights seem to suffer. Whereas we seem much more accepting of legislation of rights of groups of people as a WAY to ensure individual rights in Canada. I've certainly believed this for a long time, and this thread has served to reiterate this perception for me.