History

"The indigenous peoples of Canada did not have written languages so they were not able to leave their own written records of early European intruders . . . Canadian archives, libraries, cathedrals, martyr's shrines, museums, forts and university hallways are all places that reflect Eurocentrism."

                                                                                                        Emma La Rocque, 2010

"The narrative in Canadian history textbooks is overwhelmingly one of progress – progress in taming the wilderness and the people who lived in it at the time of European arrival; plrogress in establishing orderly (European) systems of law and government, progress in building efficient systems of transportation, communication and trade… Indigenous people are outside the real action of textbooks because they are seen as outside the narrative of progress that is Canadian history. They were not part of the story of the taming of the wilderness, the settling of the land, the building of the cities, the story of production and commerce."
                                                                                Penney Clark and Alan Sears

"Imagine that the whole of human settlement here in North America neatly fit into one year—we’ll use the most conservative estimation of 12 000 years of First Nations habitation: Columbus would arrive in the “New World” at noon December 25, at 10:30 p.m. on December 27 Samuel de Champlain would found Quebec, and the Dominion of Canada would be founded at 2:00 a.m. on December 30 (The idea of putting the whole human history of North American into the chronology of one year belongs to scholar Sarah Carter)."
                                                                                             Jesse Adrian Thistle

"The typical American captivity narrative has been described as  device for anti-Indian propaganda. At a time when Indians were an obstacle to frontier expansion, these atrocities were 'shaped by publishers exploiting a mass market that thrived on sensationalism, in a natural alliance with land speculators who wanted to implement a policy of Indian extermination in the interest of real estate development.'"
Sarah Carter, Capturing Women and James Levernier and Henning Cohen, The Indians and Their Captives [Today the word "captivity" is being used to describe First Nations children taken to residential schools or to foster homes.]

"Master of woodcraft, he [the Indian] was seen at his best when hunting. Upon the war-path he was cruel, tomahawking, scalping and torturing with fiendish ingenuity. A stoic fortitude when himself tortured was about his own heroic quality. In his village among his own clansmen he spent his time gambling, story-telling, or taking part in some rude feast. In his domestic life the Indian was not without virtues, and his squaw and papooses were treated with somewhat rough and careless kindness. To his tribe he was usually faithful, though to his foes false and crafty. Indian religion was purest superstition."
W. H. P. Clement, History of the Dominion of Canada, 1895 [The textbook chosen for use in classrooms from sea to sea.]

"The existence of Indian reserves and the poverty in them is a black eye in the Canadian Centennial year. The atmosphere on reserves is sick; brought about by a paternalistic attitude towards Indians."
                                                                                              Frank Calder,  1967

"In the long hundred years since the white man came, I have seen my freedom disappear like the salmon going mysteriously out to sea. The white man's strange customs, which I could not understand, pressed down upon me until I could no longer breathe. When I fought to protect my land and my home, I was called a savage. When I neither understood nor welcomed his way of life, I was called lazy. When I tried to rule my people, I was stripped of my authority.
My nation was ignored in your history textbooks–they were little more important in the history of Canada than the buffalo that ranged the plains. I was ridiculed in your plays and motion pictures, and when I drank your firewater, I got drunk–very, very drunk.
Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left to me of my beautiful forests? Shall I thank you for the canned fish of my rivers? For the loss of my authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back?"
                                                                  Chief Dan George, Speech, 1 July 1967

"I don't feel proud that there are ranches in Canada that are bigger than ten or fifteen reserves put together. Do you?" [response to an invitation to help celebrate 175 years of Confederation and the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus]
                                                 Georges Erasmus, The Canadian Forum, Jan. 1990

"Canada was taking shape: French roots, Loyalist perseverance and Native enclaves. Three people united in their separate tales of defeat."
Will Ferguson, 1997



"The dominant theme found in Canadian history textbooks was the expansion of European civilization in America. Give that way of framing the story, there was no real place for Native people except in so far as they obstructed the process. History was something that happened to other people. . . Once the Iroquois was end the Indians go missing from the textbooks, reappearing briefly [in 1812, 1869, and 1885] . . . Otherwise they have no role to play."
                                                                    Daniel Francis, National Dreams, 1997

"In Canada, the only good Indian was an assimilated Indian, and as very few of them accepted assimilation, we had very few good Indians."
                                                         Will Ferguson, Why I Hate Canadians, p.123



"I do not wish to celebrate Canada stealing our land. That is what Canadians will be celebrating on July 1, the theft of 99.8 per cent of our land, leaving us on reserves that make up only 0.2 per cent of the territories given us by the Creator."
                                                                                         Arthur Manuel, 2017

"On Canada's widely celebrated 150th birthday in 2017, how could it possibly be that record numbers of Native kids were in foster care? Excuse me if we don't feel like partying with the rest of the country."
                                                                              Chief Clarence Louie, Rez Rules

An Indigenous Perspective:

In Cree artist Kent Monkman’s The Subjugation of Truth Chief Poundmaker and Chief Big Bear are placed in the foreground losing their lands as settler leaders including John A. Macdonald take away their future. The primary figures are Indigenous leaders whose land is being stolen, not the former prime minister who engineered its theft. [2016]

https://www.kentmonkman.com/painting/2017/1/9/the-subjugation-of-truth-1

"Now, is it [our history] perfect? Of course not, but we must never allow political correctness to erase what made us who we are. We can and should celebrate the giants of our history. We can look to the past, acknowledge and learn from our mistakes and celebrate achievements at the same time. If we look back on our history and our leaders and see only blemishes, we miss out on a beautiful story of a country that has progressed into one of the safest, freest and most prosperous in the world.
Because despite those who wish to sweep some of these leaders under the rug, they have left their mark not only on our country but on the entire world and they are worthy of honour and respect."
                 Andrew Scheer, defending men like Sir John A. Macdonald, 18 October 2019"

"Nothing about us without us."
Deirdre Cullon, Indigenous Rights in Decision Making

"So much of the history of this nation has been erased, underplayed or forgotten because it did not fit the dominant society."
                                                                                              David McIIwraith