Dear Editor:
Indigenous peoples have been socially constructed as less than human, thus giving colonial governments, general society and the media the power to treat us as if we don’t matter.
I see it in their faces when they walk by our fallen brothers and sisters and so easily turn a blind eye. As if we were the scum on the bottom of their shoes. These poor souls who are struggling to get by because their ancestors were assaulted, murdered and pillaged of their lands.
It’s easier for them to pretend that didn’t happen.
They spew words of reconciliation as if we have something to reconcile. As if their false promises, photo ops and payouts will heal our collective wounds and their collective guilt.
Yet they continue to ignore our land claims, title cases and the over-representation of Indigenous people at every stage of the justice, foster and health-care systems. As our people continue to starve and live in Third World conditions without power and clean drinking water, they claim reconciliation. They spew words of hate and pity and never look beyond the surface to understand our collective pain and anger.
I felt the Colten Boushie verdict like a stab through the heart. I feel for his family; he could have been my friend. Tina Fontaine became less than human in the public’s eyes when they portrayed her as at fault for her own brutal murder.
Simply being born Indigenous and female in Canada increases the risk of physical, emotional and sexual abuse and going missing or being murdered. If I were to go missing, my life would be reduced to a statistic; I would become another missing or murdered Indigenous woman.
The GoFundMe campaign supporting Gerald Stanley acts as a reminder of this country’s blatant racism and disrespect for Indigenous peoples and families, just as the lack of action on missing and murdered women illustrates the construction of Indigenous women as the immoral other who are somehow deserving of harm.
They tried to eradicate the Indian problem, and they failed. Let’s show them we’re still here. Today is a day for action. We must look inside of ourselves and see what we can do.
I hope my friends and non-Indigenous allies will join me in channelling their anger into action. Now is not the time for silence.
Michaela McGuire
