Saw a bunch of Canada flags in a store this week, all in preparation for 1 July. Flags, badges, pins, face stickers, washable tattoos, etc. i got all excited, and was fully into the spirit of it and started thinking which flag-sizes we should buy for the home and for the car, and where i could buy some red and white facepaint so i can get a maple leaf painted on me for July 1. (That’s Canada Day by the way - 1 July).
There’s a ‘but’ coming up. We’ll be hearing a lot of the Canadian anthem closer we get to 1 July…hear it on tv at the beginning of every hockey match, in junior high school they play the anthem and you have to stand up out of respect. So, for a little refresher, here’s part of the lyrics of the Canadian anthem:
…] Our home and native land!
…] God keep our land glorious and free!
Why do we have the words “Our …] native land” in there? Yes this is going somewhere i’m sure some of you can guess… but oh well. It’s not really “our” “native” land, is it? Ask an Aboriginal person, they’ll give you a very opinionated reply. How did it become “our” land - it definitely is, from a legal perspective, “our” land now and today. It definitely is NOT our “native” land…and never was to begin with. Unless the person singing the anthem is Aboriginal, it was never anyone’s “native” land. That part of the anthem is a lie.
Whenever you mention multiculturalism and diversity with other Canadians (desi Canadians, Caucasian Canadians, whatever the hyphenated case may be), they always say (and i include myself in this) - hey we’ve got multiculturalism as part of our official Constitution, we don’t encourage a melting-pot type of mentality as some other countries do, we encourage diversity etc etc. That’s true, but only if you’re not Aboriginal. If you’re Aboriginal, you might as well forget about multiculturalism. No one wants to hear about totem poles and dream catchers or the traditional ways of life or seal hunting or moccasins unless it’s as a token representation of ethnicity; or you want to include some Aboriginal dance for the coolness aspect - like on 21 March (anti-racism day), they’ll always invite Aboriginal groups to perform some ceremonial dances. Everyone takes a bunch of pictures, pat ourselves on the back for being oh so open-minded, then go home. That’s well and good. Rest of the year, for 364 days, we pretty much ignore the Aboriginals around us. It’s like they’re good only as trophy showcases for displaying our supposed diversity; rest of the year, we prefer they stay out of sight and out of mind.
i dunno what’s the purpose of my post. Just feels like - “Canada Day” will exclude a certain group…a group that was here way before any of us immigrants, whether we immigrated from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, UK, or the US. Except for the original inhabitants, we’re ALL immigrants here. Within Canada, most so-called visible minorities (South Asians, Orientals, even Arabs) get all the attention and the diversity bit caters to them…but what about Aboriginals ? How come they are the invisible and neglected group of this country? What, except for ingrained and structural racism, can comprehensively explain this aspect?
Do you mean to imply that i worry too much? Thanks in advance for the clarification. 
