Years of Pain and Suffering

During the years I lived in the Arctic I listened to horror stories about student abuse in the residential schools set up by the Canadian Government. Some of the stories were so painful that people would believe that they were made up by the students.It was not only the Inuit who were involved but a much large group of aboriginal peoples who made up the First Nations spread all across northern Canada.

We now hear from the government itself that systematic starvation of our native children who were in the governments care for the purpose of studies on nutrition. Living on half rations and being deprived of needed vitamins these students were studied for a decade little knowing what was happening and without their consent.

When people came up north to visit  me I sometimes took them to a place called starvation cove where many Inuit died of starvation as the Federal government did little to provide food for a village who suffered a terrible tragedy when the caribou and fish never provided the needed food for the winter.

These and other events did not take place hundreds of years ago but during the forties and fifties, The latest revelation about the diet for the students is probably one of the sadist as the people working on this government sponsored experiment all knew it was wrong, These young people were treated like guinea pigs for research. These people were considered less than other Canadians and as such they thought that here was a perfect laboratory for their study. A closed society and a controlled society. Shame on the government of the day who permitted this terrible crime on an innocent and powerless  society. I trust that this information will cause much food for thought and we will focus on solutions to correct our double standard when it comes to aboriginal rights and living standards.