And on 20 January of this year, when Trump was swept out of office, you celebrated the sanitation of your nation.
Is January 20th a federal holiday? Thought not. This is a vacation day in Canada. Shouldn't you be out celebrating the formation of your nation and waving your red/white rag with the maple leaf around?
This Canada Day, Indigenous groups invite Quebecers to stand in solidarity, join protests 'It's not a day of celebration. For us, it's a day of mourning,' says Tammy Whitebean CBC News · Posted: Jul 01, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 8 hours ago Organizers are asking people to wear orange shirts and show solidarity with Indigenous groups and survivors on Canada Day. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press) Several cities across the country have cancelled Canada Day celebrations completely, and in Montreal and Quebec City, events have been organized to denounce Canada's legacy of residential schools. A march is taking place Jeanne-Mance park in Montreal on Thursday afternoon and a rolling blockade heading out of Kahnawake will disrupt traffic off the island. Tammy Whitebean, who is helping organize the blockade, told CBC's Daybreak that the event is open to anyone who wants to join. "We're extending our invite for non-Indigenous if they want to come and stand with us," she said. "It shows us that we do have people who care, who are going to acknowledge the genocide of Indigenous people. For them to stand with us [at] the rolling blockade or by not celebrating Canada Day, it shows us solidarity." A rolling blockade, like the one seen in this archive photo from 2020, will take place on Thursday. (CBC) Whitebean said that, given the discoveries of unmarked graves at residential school sites that have come to light in the last few months, people need to take this day to grieve and acknowledge what happened. "This is a lot of babies who never got the chance to grow up," she said. "They weren't schools because schools have playgrounds. These are prison camps because they had graves." She said people in her community and across the country have not forgotten these tragic events and "will never get over it." "It's not a day for celebration. For us, it's a day of mourning," said Whitebean. 'Our hearts are certainly not in Canada Day celebrations' On Thursday, a convoy will leave the Mohawk community of Kanesatake to head to Montreal for the march, which begins at 2 p.m. In a news release, Native Women's Shelter of Montreal director Nakuset, who helped organize the march, said she feels the impact of the bodies being discovered personally. "My mother went to residential school in Saskatchewan; those children could be my relatives. We are organizing this gathering as a space to come together, share our pain and grief, and gain strength from the wisdom of our elders," she said in a statement. Reflecting on the meaning of Canada Day in the wake of residential school discoveries She goes on to offer an indictment of anyone partaking in festivities this year: "The policy of residential schools was to remove children far away from their communities so that they couldn't run away; the multi-layers of cover-up of crimes is astounding. Anyone who is celebrating Canada on July 1st is celebrating oppression." In Quebec City, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is organizing a march and a vigil in memory of those who died, survivors and their descendants. The event begins at 4 p.m. at Place Jean-Béliveau and is open to anyone. "Our hearts are certainly not in Canada Day celebrations," said AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard. "We invite everyone to mobilize to highlight the importance of paying our respects and offering all our support to our sister nations who are going through extremely difficult times. We will honour their memory with respect, dignity and kindness." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canada-day-in-quebec-1.6086289
By extension... any Canadian who does not join them is their "day of mourning" supports the oppression of indigenous people in Canada. Where is Nine_Ender today?
Still reeling over Trump, I see. Yeah, I would resort to avoidance, too. Since you cannot will a thought away, the best you can do is replace it with another thought. Somewhere else. Across a border, say. Well done. You've done this before, haven't you? The Bush years?
Cancel Canada Day' march in Vancouver draws attention to systemic racism https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/07/01/cancel-canada-day/
Thunder Bay 'No Pride in Genocide': Cancel Canada Day rally is set to take place in Thunder Bay on July 1 Social Sharing Logan Turner · CBC News · Posted: Jul 01, 2021 8:07 AM ET | Last Updated: 6 hours ago A group of volunteers work on a banner for the Cancel Canada Day march taking place July 1 in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Logan Turner / CBC) As calls to cancel Canada Day have grown over the past few weeks across the country, some in Thunder Bay, Ont., are heeding that message. A rally is set to take place on July 1, beginning at 1:45 p.m. in Waverley Park. Participants will then march down to Thunder Bay's waterfront, where a moment of silence will be held before a number of speeches begin. Organizers say the march will begin at 2:15 p.m., in honour of the discovery of what are believed an estimated 215 children's remains adjacent to a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. The pile of signs and banners grow for the Cancel Canada Day rally, set to begin at 2:15 p.m. from Waverley Park in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Logan Turner / CBC News) Asked what cancelling Canada Day means to them, one of the co-organizers of the march, Lak Williams said: "it means not celebrating the concept of Canada as a country and celebrating the occupation of lands that were taken away from Indigenous peoples." In the lead up to the march, organizers and volunteers gathered in Waverley Park, paintbrushes in hand, to make signs and paint banners. An artist and volunteer works on a sign reading "Reconciliation before celebration" leading up to the Cancel Canada Day rally on July 1 in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Logan Turner / CBC News) Among the growing pile of signs were messages like: "No Pride in Genocide," "This is Anishinaabe Land," "153 Years of Oppression," and "Cancel Canada Day." "I think it's really important for Thunder Bay to realize that … genocide is actually an ongoing injustice against Indigenous peoples and that it is not something to celebrate," Williams added. Sitting on a park bench, Cynthia Nault, a co-organizer of the march, pinched tobacco into small, orange squares of fabric. Cynthia Nault, one of the organizers of the Cancel Canada Day march in Thunder Bay, Ont., prepares tobacco ties to hand out on July 1. (Logan Turner / CBC News) "I'm working on some tobacco ties for July 1st," Nault told CBC News. "There's a teaching that when a person accepts a tobacco tie, there becomes a spiritual contract between the person offering the tobacco and the person accepting the tobacco." Nault says she hopes those in attendance at the march will take the tobacco tie and then take action to address ongoing violence toward Indigenous people. Listen to the full story on CBC Superior Morning here: 6:50Logan Turner: Cancel Canada Day The call to Cancel Canada Day is growing across the country. It comes in response to the recent findings of unmarked graves at former residential schools across the country. Some people in Thunder Bay are heeding that call. A march is scheduled for the afternoon of July 1st. In the days leading up to that march .. a group has been gathering to plan the event and prepare signs. The CBC's Logan Turner brings went to Waverley Park to meet some of the people taking part. 6:50 Not One More Death holding events in support Meanwhile, activist group Not One More Death is holding a series of events leading up to July 1 in support of the Cancel Canada Day movement. Since last week, people have gathered in Waverley Park at noon to read out loud the final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). "In light of the revelations of the terrible atrocities that were committed and the discovery of graves of so many young people, we thought it was time to bring the community together in some way - and specifically to try and bring together people who are not aware of what happened [in residential schools] or wanted to learn more," said Max Haiven, a professor at Lakehead University and a volunteer with Not One More Death. Max Haiven, a volunteer with activist group Not One More Death, reads from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report. The group has been hosting public readings of the report in Waverley Park in the days leading up to July 1 (Logan Turner / CBC News) "There's something really valuable about spending the time over a series of days to read [the TRC's final report]," he added. "You get a real sense of what the scope of that commission was to investigate what happened at residential schools and the gravity of the situation."