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Comment by theluketaylor | Hacker News Reader

Residential schools in particular and the treatment of First Nations is our nation's original and ongoing sin and we badly need to have a collective reckoning on what went on and how to move forward. The Truth and Reconciliation commission was a good start, but it needs to be backed with action.

China's call for an international review is a craven political action designed to embarrass us on the international stage, but frankly we should be embarrassed (and a lot more). I would support using something like the International Criminal Court or the UN Commission on Human Rights to help produce findings on what went on and what can be done to start to heal. We could set an example for the world on how to reconcile on these issues and find a path forward.

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> I would support using something like the International Criminal Court or the UN Commission on Human Rights to help produce findings on what went on and what can be done to start to heal.

As you say, Canada had a 7 year process to do just this. It was chaired by Murray Sinclair. Sinclair is an Indigenous man with a lot of standing in the Indigenous community and in broader Canadian society. He was an associate chief justice in Manitoba, and a federal senator.

It produced a bunch of documentary evidence, and a bunch of recommendations.

If people want action on this, following those recommendations would be a start. As it happens, one of the recommendations is funding for the ground-penetrating radar that is turning up these burial sites. While that recommendation was ignored at the time it was made, provinces are now funding it. We can expect more of these stories to come out. We don't need to start from scratch, we just need to make progress on the existing findings.

>While that recommendation was ignored at the time it was made, provinces are now funding it.

They've been vocal about funding it now that it's in the media, they haven't funded anything yet.

That's a fair point. The announcements are relatively new, so I don't infer anything negative from the fact that disbursements haven't happened yet.

The two announcements I'm thinking of are Ontario's ($10M over 3 years) and Alberta's $8M (available in $150K grants, application process for the next 6 months). The fact that there are dollar amounts, timelines, and they're offered by a political party holding a majority in the legislature makes me think it's likely to actually happen.

I'm hopeful as well. There's a history of politicians being politicians though.

Technically, taking the land of the natives would the "original sin" and everything else involves justifying and maintaining the situation, including the death of those who held the land, the elimination of their children, etc.

"It may sound crazy but North America was previously inhabited and yeah, what happened to the previous inhabitants?"

It’s not taking it’s conquering. I don’t know why Canada and the US are shy about the label.

He who casts the first stone let him be without sin.

It reminds me of the situation the European Union has going on with Hungary. How do you claim moral superiority as a Western country when you have none?

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