More info you didn't ask for...
This is the second part of a three part installation. If you didn’t catch Part 1 you can find it here.
As mentioned before, there’s a method behind my madness. So let’s get to the meat of it.
So, the second reason I explore these dark spots from the past is to give Canadians a true sense of themselves. For years, we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time comparing ourselves to the United States. It’s an easy thing to do since we live so close and have many things in common.
But, it leads to a false sense of superiority. The path of how we treated our minorities diverted from theirs once we started giving refuge to those who travelled the Underground Railroad to freedom.
It’s time for us, as Canadians, to see that even though we did “better” than our neighbours (and a bit sooner) does not mean we were without fault. It just means we were one step ahead of the man who was eaten by the bear. lol
True, we opened the country to African Americans and allowed them to flee their oppression but our country did not make life easier for them. Black people were segregated from many places, treated as lesser, and they struggled to find work because of the colour of their skin. In fact, many of them became indentured servants with unfair contracts which meant they couldn’t pay of their debts–another form of slavery. Some of them, after fighting for the British during the civil war, were promised land to start a life which they didn’t receive.
I can hear the statement already, “But that was so long ago!”
Was it? The last remnant of segregation in Canada was wiped away in 1983 (I’ll be elaborating on that in another post). That was a mere 39 years ago. During my lifetime (I know…I’m old…lol).
But really.
Not so long ago.
So, I believe it’s time to see the beam in our own eye instead of criticizing the fleck in our neighbours.
Just something to think about.
Be well.