Monday, April 6, 2009

Willful Ignorance

Canada treats its Aboriginal population like second class citizens, and unlike immigrants who are the subject of commissions like ‘reasonable accommodation’, the treatment of Aboriginal communities in Canadian history is downright racist. This article from the National Aboriginal News describes Aboriginal woman “Le Claire” and her confrontation with two men who berated her based on their racist convictions. She confronted the two men and demanded the Lifeguard on duty to do something, but was met with no help and more offenses. After writing a letter to the mayor, she was still ignored.

“Despicable” is the term that Helmut Harry Lowen, sociology professor at the University of Winnipeg, uses to describe the reaction from the bureaucracy. Lowen is an expert on hate groups and continues saying that “Aboriginals face these kinds of comments on a daily basis, it’s willful ignorance on the part of these people.” People don’t know or care about the true history of the country and its treatment of the Aboriginal population.

It begs the question that would people act this ignorant if they knew the real history of the country and the hardships that aboriginal communities are forced to endure? It is unacceptable to treat others of another culture in such a way, especially since it is one of the main standards of the Canadian charter to treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, gender or creed. One must also ask, is this treatment similar in ways to reasonable accommodation?

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