We should be angry. We should be ashamed. We should be apologetic. We should be seeking reconciliation.
But we should NOT be surprised.
We live in a country where indigenous peoples consistently and repeatedly annihilated for hundreds of years. The existence of Canada has only been accomplished by destroying the people who were here first.
We STILL claim to be an anti-racist “mosaic” that includes people no matter who they are and where they are from, but this is not, nor has it ever been true.
We have just been very good at hiding the awful things we have done from the rest of the world.
Now our skeletons are finally being revealed, in the most literal way imaginable, and we have the audacity to be SURPRISED by being outed for the awful hypocrisy that has been and is Canada.
Calls to “fix” this are laughable, as how does one fix a multi century genocide? It’s not possible. We need to own this awful history, air it, and work towards reconciliation and listening to the indigenous peoples who have been screaming for our attention.
We need to do so much better.
We need to make amends however we can.
But don’t tell me that you are SURPRISED that there are hundreds, thousands of indigenous babies secretly buried in our soil.
Originally intended to simply focus on book reviews, over time, KaliDesautelsReads has morphed into its own entity.
I write about issues that are near to my heart, be they political, feminist, motherhood, mental health, or, as the title holds, books.
A thirty-something Canadian woman in my mid-thirties, I have been "super married" to my high school sweetheart since 2006, and together we have two crazy, clever, kind, hilarious, wonderful kids.
My first book - How Not To Blog: Finding Myself, One Post at a Time is available on Amazon (in eBook formats for you clever tech readers, and paperback for those of us who love that new book smell!)
I have tried a podcast - it's still on Apple and Google Podcasts - but writing is where my heart is.
My life changed dramatically when my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in 2018, and I am now a writer for a leading Canadian Cancer Non-Profit.
I am lucky enough to have a family that loves me and pushes me to be my best, even if it is outside of my cushiony comfort zone. I have a village of friends that nourish me, mentally, and spiritually.
Welcome to my thoughts. Sit down. Stay a while. Enjoy a cup of coffee!
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