So you’re in a demographic that gets ‘uplifted’/‘praised’ at the Canada Together event – explains why you view it differently.

One of the most common graffiti tags around Vancouver is FN tagging things about giving land back, or wanting colonials out. The MMIWG report recommendations largely orient around FN-exclusive services and privileges. The criminal system literally has to have a race-based reviews as part of judgment, which is an attempt to justify the law punishing people differently based on racist segregation, giving specific benefits (in the form of reduced sentences/bail conditions) to criminals of FN descent, and giving harsher punishment for crimes committed against people of FN descent – JWR, our first FN AG, literally campaigned for and implemented this race-based privilege, her policies being a big reason we had the huge uptick in repeat violent offenders being released onto the streets around the time COVID started (it became much more noticeable after the lock downs). Housing is built explicitly for FN. The Hereditary chief system, and band management in general, is not inclusive, not overly accountable, nor something other races can “immigrate” to – a black guy can’t show up and become a FN, the system is racist by definition. Non-FN that do things like create art/images that resemble FN things, get sued / torn down / shamed – hell, my Mom once brought some home-made Dreamcatchers to a craft sale in the 90s, and was verbally assaulted by a FN vendor (whose dreamcatchers weren’t selling, as they were lower quality) until she had to leave.

I’m not allowed to ask questions about the residential school system, or question the narrative around it being a genocide, as questioning it is on schedule to be claimed a hate crime. So you win that one by authoritarian decree, I have to accept whatever you say about it. Because the system doesn’t treat people equally. Very Canadian – so you’re right, we do have very authoritarian tendencies, even in recent history.