To the Editor,
If Justin Bieber received the same kind of whitewashed education about Canada’s First Nations Peoples like my generation did growing up in Canada during the 1950s and ’60s, then perhaps he’s to be forgiven for recently mis-speaking about Canadian aboriginal heritage providing privileged access to free gas.
When I hear tripe such as “we’d all be better off if they (First Nations) all stayed on-reserve” and the equally as ignorant “they should just get over it like all the conquered tribes of Europe did,” however, I believe such dark small-mindedness just needs the enlightenment of a little education.
So I’d like to strongly encourage every Canadian, including ‘the Beebs’, to view the four-part CBC documentary series called Eighth Fire: Aboriginal Peoples, Canada and the Way Forward.
T’would be nice to see it shown in schools across the land. At the very least, it educates the viewer about all the taxes First Nations do pay and puts to rest uninformed prejudices about exemptions.
Mostly, as its promo suggests, the series “explores ways to repair the relationship between Canadians and First Nations and offers us all a way forward and a second chance at getting the relationship right”.
Liz Stonard,
Port Alberni
