Hooray, it’s Canada Day. Our home ON Native land…
Here are two damning facts:
For years, the United Nations (UN) has ranked Canada in the top 10 best places to live in the world regarding quality of life (Human Development Index). In 2009, the UN ranked Canada in 4th place.
Time to start cheering yet? Not so fast.
When you factor in the life experiences and material realities of First Nations communities across Canada
–First Nations living conditions or quality of life ranks 63rd, or amongst Third World conditions, according to an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada study that applied First Nations-specific statistics to the Human Development Index created by the United Nations. One year, Canada dropped from 1st to 8th as the best country in the world to live primarily due to housing and health conditions in First Nations communities.
–The First Nations’ infant mortality rate is 1.5 times higher than the Canadian infant mortality rate.
Canada should be ashamed of itself, and this shame must be known by average Canadians and the foreign dignitaries and media who attended the G8/G20 Summits in Huntsville and Ontario.
This is why Thursday June 24, 2010’s theme was “Native Rights are Human Rights, you can’t take them away” and “Canada Can’t Hide Genocide” day.
Defenders of the Land go to the G8
It takes courage to confront the truth: Canada likes to play coy on the world stage and present itself as a world example but our “glowing hearts” cannot shine bright and true until we have the integrity to face our own shadows here on Mother Earth on the land we call Canada; and Canada’s dirty big secret is our treatement of First Nations communities.
Canada is the only country still opposing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the other three countries opposed to it – Australia, New Zealand and the US – have changed their vote or are reconsidering.
Shame.
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