Sosyal Medya

Politics

Canada's Mass Graves: Yet another Colonial Legacy

For the people of Canada, the discovery of more than 700 unmarked graves on the site of a former Indigenous residential school in Saskatchewan, just weeks after a similar smaller finding in British Columbia (B.C.), has sparked a long-overdue reckoning with the country's colonial past.

27-07-2021 08:43
Ashraf Akintola
 
The effect of any form of fitnah – trials and tribulations, wherever it happens; takes a while to eventually dissipate after a conscious effort to destroy its impact is undertaken. The situation is much worse when a form of fitnah evolves into another one with a conscious effort to change the name with which it was previously known. For decades to come, the decision of the 1884-1885 Berlin conference would continue to haunt Africa's growth and development. Even though by the end of the 1960s, most African countries got their independence; yet, the reality of what most envisaged couldn't be brought to fruition. France still sets the values of CFA franc for most francophone countries, and Belgium still has a considerable stake in the Congo.
 
It is true, just like in the words of Heldring and Robinson (2012): "COLONIALISM AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA"; Colonialism is neither a European phenomenon nor is it restricted to the Scramble for Africa (which may itself not have been a completely European phenomenon since one can argue that Ethiopia under Menelik II also took part). Even though this assertion of the genesis can be disputed, however, It would be fair to state equivocally that Africa, being the last continent up till now to suffer from the scourge of colonialism, is being stifled by nation-states who were victims of colonialism themselves.
 
In simple definitions, colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonialization, colonizers may impose their religion, language, economics, and other cultural practices.
 
Modern China, for example, is an Empire constructed over millennia primarily by the Han Chinese. The Ottomans built a vast empire in the late middle ages and Early Modern period, which stretched from the Gates of Vienna to Iraq, Yemen and Tunisia. The Russians colonized Siberia and large parts of Central Asia. In the 100 years before the conquest of the Americas, the Incas created a vast empire stretching from southern Colombia to Chile and northwestern Argentina. Britain was colonized by the Angles, Danes, Jutes and Saxons and subsequently the Normans.
 
Even though the colonial efforts are still ongoing and are now being given different terms or concepts such as "new frontiers" or "development", the degree to which these so-called terms impact the lives and livelihood of people determines the legacies it would leave behind (that is if we see the end of it).
 
The degree of atrocities committed and regard for human life that the empires listed earlier had on the new areas they conquered is still on record and very much relevant to the issue being discussed. Even though the intent and mode is in variance with the European colonial model, they all had, if not all, some of the ingredients of economic dominance, territorial annexations, as well as religious, language and cultural integrations. All these define and are characteristics of colonialism as it is now known. 
 
For the people of Canada, the discovery of more than 700 unmarked graves on the site of a former Indigenous residential school in Saskatchewan, just weeks after a similar smaller finding in British Columbia (B.C.), has sparked a long-overdue reckoning with the country's colonial past. According to several news reports, more Indigenous communities across Canada have begun to unearth the remains of children who have been lost for decades.
 
Residential schools operated in Canada for over 150 years, with more than 150,000 children forcefully passing through their doors until the last ones closed in 1996. Indigenous children were taken from their families, often by force. They were housed in crowded, state-funded, church-run facilities, where they were abused and forbidden from speaking their languages. The system's purpose: "To kill the Indian in the child".
 
As more truths are being unearthed on the legacy the "colonial rule" had on the indigenous people, it is worth reflecting on the incident as an eye-opener. It raises the question that if a part of the general livelihood of a people can have such a gory tale to tell, what would become of the other sections such as economy, culture, language and other areas that makes the people unique.
 
Taking a cue from the Nigerian experience, Islam, nay Muslim traders, have been in the now called Nigerian geographic entity for hundreds of years before the Christian missionaries came into Nigeria alongside those who would later become colonial masters. Islam was graciously and willingly practised by a large majority, especially the country's Northern and Southwestern parts. If it were the colonialist ideal they intended to spread; they would have done so with ease. But as it is evident in the European colonial system, dominance is the goal, and that is why till tomorrow, it would continue to leave a sour taste in the mouth if conscious efforts aimed at stemming it is not put in place.
 
It is indeed so sad! It is indeed so sad!

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