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Canada has a chance to right historic wrongs

Congratulations to the class of 2014. You are our hope for the future. We have good news for you.

Congratulations to the class of 2014. You are our hope for the future.   We have good news for you. We too have graduated as of June 26, 2014.   The Supreme Court of Canada has just handed down a decision which allows us to tell the whole truth about how Canada came into being.    You/we will no longer have to live the lies contained in the Indian Act of 1867.  All Canadians will be able to  point to the Royal proclamation of King George III in 1763,  which says in essence, that his government officials will have to come to an agreement with the Indigenous people, before settling the land.   This was spelled out in the treaty of Niagara 1764,  and a Wampum Belt  which expressed the Indigenous peoples understanding of the said treaty.   In essence, the Indigenous people offered to share the land for the following considerations: An equal amount of money would be spent on both settlers and Indigenous for Health, Housing, & Education. Each nation would travel down the river of life, neither interfering with the other as to how they lived it; and there would be a sharing of resources.

The whole truth is that successive Canadian governments have not lived up to their part of the agreement. So, for our graduands and ourselves, the opportunity to honor the original agreement is in our hands.   Let us pick up the torch of truth and reconciliation, admit the whole truth about what has happened in the last 300 to 400 years,  apologize, ask to be forgiven, and make restitution wherever possible. Then, embrace each other as brothers and sisters, which we are,  and let the magic of reconciliation do its job.

Dan MacQuarrie