I submit that everyone has trouble taking advice or instruction from a superior. I would even add that it is likely impossible to have a full and fair relationship with a superior.
When I was a high school teacher, a colleague once joked to me that teaching teens was relatively easy. “Find out what they want to do and tell them to do it!” he quipped. I laughed when I heard this because it was a reminder that teaching was indeed difficult work. Why? Because students take issue with your authority over them. They sabotage your plans and resist your direction.
Parenting too is challenging work and for the same reason. Young people intrinsically want to run before they can walk but parents struggle to let go of the reins and accept their kids as equal peers.
For relationships to flourish, however, they must be based on an equal footing. Friendships rely on reciprocity and respect; they will crumble in the face of a power imbalance and unaddressed wrongs.
For teachers and parents, a top down approach to their students and children respectively may work as a temporary measure. Young people need time before they can fully take charge of their lives and adults can guide and guard them while they mature. But as a long term strategy, the top down approach runs counter to any lasting relationship.
When we consider the current indigenous crisis in our country, it is evident that much of the problem lies with the fact that the colonizer’s relationship with indigenous people continues to be top down. Say all you want about reconciliation and offering moneys and support for social issues. What needs to change is how whites see our indigenous, and how they relate to them.
Consider the following. Today in Canada indigenous people enjoy extensive social support and some economic advantages (lower taxation, cheaper goods and reduced university tuition as a few examples) but they have to ask for basic funding for amenities. They plead daily for fairness and justice.They experience constant discrimination. Some indigenous people are still waiting to have drinking water on their land!
The fact that indigenous people have to canvas the Crown-Indigenous Relations & Northern Affairs Department and another department called Indigenous Services (the departments that have replaced the former Department of Indian Affairs) in order to receive basic services that are automatically extended to all Canadians points to this problem. The fact that these two departments even exist is the very heart of it. The current government of Canada continues to have the upper hand in its relationship with our indigenous.
In my view, the funding and support that indigenous people have received thus far are designed to muddy the waters and hide a terrible truth: Canada’s indigenous are still not free. They are, in actuality, our unofficial second class citizens.
Recently all levels of government have made overtures towards Canada’s indigenous as a way to say sorry for the genocide perpetrated by our residential schools. Across our country, more indigenous people are appearing in positions of power among municipal, provincial and federal jurisdictions. A couple months ago, an indigenous person was appointed the Governor General of our country!
The increasing presence of indigenous people in positions of authority is looked upon as social progress. In particular, the appointment of the new governor general was greeted with joy by many Canadians because it seemed to be a significant step forward to allowing our indigenous a place at the proverbial table. But is this what is really happening? The Governor General represents the Queen of England. The post celebrates the continuing power and status of the British colonizer.
In a diabolical twist, the Liberal government —while pretending to reconcile with indigenous people —has only reinforced the second class citizenship of the indigenous in Canada. To allow more indigenous people to serve inside a system that favours white privilege, and to appoint an indigenous person as the strongest symbol of colonialism is masterful subterfuge. And I fear there is no real intent or political will to set our indigenous free. Ever.
What I propose is that we treat our indigenous with real dignity and genuine respect. Likely this will mean the end of Canada as we know it and the rise of two equal nations—the indigenous and the colonizer’s. It will be a challenging adjustment for those of us who have enjoyed the benefits of white privilege for so long. But it is necessary if we are serious about treating our indigenous as equal partners.
An additional note: Unsuspecting visitors who land at our airports are likely to be met by beautiful indigenous artifacts in the foyers. They will be tempted to think that indigenous culture is valued right across our land. But is that really true? Or is it more of the colonizer’s two-faced narrative?