(By First Nation) “its in the Past tho”

As  a First Nation who was brought up in the Foster System and a generally very “white” world, even hearing ‘It’s in the past so why does it matter?’ About how Indigenous people were treated back in the day (which infact wasn’t that long ago) still gets to me. So I wrote this peom/thingy as I seemed fit to end this stigma of the Canadian past.

 

You may think that we should move on.
We are, you are just blind right now.
We are trying, we are living.
We have flashbacks, we have problems.
We are learning, we are slowly forgiving.

What was done to our elders was a crime.
They got through it and we were their strength.
But now we are given the same treatment they received.
They tell us with pride to never give up.
They want the best for us.
We switched places.

You say to our faces that it is in the past.
But do you not see the results of such a crime.
There is hate, there is hurt.
There is sorrow, there is hope.
There is crying, there is still joy.
We want a better tomorrow, the past is in the past.

We agree it is time to move on.
But it starts with one family at a time.
It starts with many tries to finally get the right formula.
It did start with the apology but it doesn’t end there.
It did start with the compensation but it doesn’t end there.
It really starts when we see much more than just words and money.

Let’s start learning from the mistakes and not let them happen again.
Let’s get together as a country to fix it’s broken heart.
Let’s be a country that is proud enough to speak about how we ended this genocide.
Let’s do this to show our future kids how to handle conflicts.
Let’s be a people that is free of the past.

 

This really is just the beginning. I hope that as you read that you could easily dive into what the words mean and read in between the lines. Also I hope that you do not just pass these words as if they are trash. I may be a finished and successful product of the genocide but should it not mean what I have to say does not mean a thing. Should I not know exactly what happened to my people since I am the finished product?

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