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Canada Day reflections on whose Canada is this?

Canada Day, native rights to the country who's country is it

To the Editor:

I am only 90 years old next October, and people are still asking me to write some more.

Well, on Canada Day what better time to write than now.

I was talking to a fellow about my heritage. My father’s  people came here in 1823. My mother’s people were Spencers of Althorp Salace  in England. Of a family of four boys and four girls, three boys came to Rhode Island and one returned.

I am a relative of the other two with the history of it.

This fellow I was talking to smiled and said, “I’ve got you beat!”

He said, “My ancestors met the Mayflower when it landed.” Well, on this day we celebrate Canada Day and many new Canadians took their citizenship this day.  The thing I get out of this is - when the Mayflower landed, we were not asked if we could come here to live. We just told the people we were coming and moved in.

Let’s analyze this a bit. We never paid our way in and never fought a lot for it. So, legally by our own laws, the First Nations still own a large amount of it.

If you were to go to anywhere in Europe and did the same thing, you would be chased right out into the ocean.

 

So - this is Canada Day - who’s Canada?  or North America?

I wonder if any one of us people from Europe ever asked the owners of North and South America if we could immigrate here?

 

No - we told them in so many words that this was our discovered country and the native people here would be allowed to live on our native reserves.

Does that make any sense to you? It doesn’t to me.

Who’s Canada is this anyway?

Wilf Miller, Keremeos