You thought frosh week was bad on Res.....

Christianity has gotten a bad rep because of how people have perversed the religion to propel their own greedy movements. It has been used in most forms of slavery, ethnic cleansings and genocides. Yesterday, it hit me hard when they connected genocide to Residential Schools in Canada. We are discussing about the Aboriginal culture in Canada at Uni, and some of what we are hearing is baffling. On the surface, residential schools were meant to assimilate Aboriginal children into European culture in order to make them more "civilized." These bording schools taught them to be domestics and fall into the entrapment of gender roles. Beneath the surface, the schools neglected and abused the children. They used every opportunity to harm the children including forcing healthy aboriginal children play with childen that were infected with small pox and tuberculosis. They were sexually abused and emotionally abused. Until last year, the government did not acknowledge this form of genocide and the residential schools worked hard to hide bodies and any form of evidence that would show any mistreatment of aboriginal children in the schools. This is a disgusting part of Canadian history, but there are more stories. Canada prides itself on being a peaceful nation, but it's a lie. No nation on this world is peaceful due to colonization. Colonization brought violence and false promises to the natives. The last residential school closed in 1998, and June 11, 2008, the government issuesd an apology. As of now, residential school survivors are being monetarily compensated but on the condition that they can prove their abuse and how they will manage the money. I don't know if it's a genuine apology or a slap in the face. But i would like Rick James to come and give Harper a SLAP! Anyways, check out this site http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/ the information is amazing. Please spread the knowledge, education and wisdom creates power, it overpowers money! My wish is that the Harper government keeps it real in '09 and we should too! Much love and Peace, Annita.