Although Canada’s history of Indigenous oppression is very well “hidden” nowadays, the fact remains that it is cruel, unfair, and still present. With this in mind, Indigenous activists across the nation mark a day of mourning with marches that aim to showcase the injustices they face in their own country.

Canada Day is the national day of Canada. It is celebrated every year on July 1 in order to celebrate the anniversary of its Constitution Act that united three separate colonies. However, this year is different.

In the past month, people all around the world have had difficult conversations about police brutality, systemic racism, and the lasting effects of colonization.

This year, Canada Day comes amid these same types of discussions, especially regarding police brutality against Indigenous communities, local protests against pipelines, and systemic racism in health-care systems.

The Indigenous rights group Idle No More led the peaceful “Cancel Canada Day” protests all around the country. These protests are meant to honor Indigenous, women, trans, black, and migrant lives lost in the country.

“We will not celebrate the ongoing genocide within Canada against Indigenous people. […] We will use our voices for MMIWG2S, child welfare, birth alerts, forced sterilization, police [and] RCMP brutality, and all of the injustices we face.”

Statement on Idle No More’s website

In the past months, Indigenous Peoples all over Canada have been bombarded by reports of altercations between Aboriginals and the police, and several Indigenous community leaders can confirm that there is a dire need for investigation into racist health-care systems.

These calls for investigation come after several accusations that a few members of British Columbia emergency staff reportedly played a game to guess the blood-alcohol levels of Aboriginal patients.

Many people see Canada Day, Victoria Day, and St. Jean Baptist Day as symbols of colonialism around the country that emphasize “all that was lost for Canada to become what it is.” A video on Idle No More’s Facebook page said: “We have many names for our sacred lands and Canada is not one of them.”

National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Perry Bellegarde has recognized that Canada has a long way to go in order to achieve equality in the country. Bellegarde went on to add that Indigenous communities should be recognized for their contributions to Canada.

Following the deaths of two members of the Indigenous community at the hands of the police, Bellegarde has continually emphasized the need for systemic change in police forces.

In fact, an Indigenous person in Canada is actually ten times more likely to have been shot and killed by a Canadian police officer since 2017 than a white person in Canada is. Additionally, a recent CTV News analysis shows that out of 66 people (for whom race or heritage could be identified) shot and killed by police since 2017, 25 of them were Indigenous.

25 out of 66 translates to roughly 40%. If this data is adapted to the Canadian population according to a 2016 census, it comes to show that 1.5 out of every 100,000 Aboriginal Canadians have been shot and killed by police since 2017, compared to 0.13 out of every 100,000 white Canadians.

Sadly, these statistics are not in any way alone. A report from the Council of Canadian Academies found many other disparities that confirm the presence of systemic racism. First off, compared to non-Indigenous Canadians, Indigenous Canadians are eleven times more likely to be accused of homicide.

Also, Indigenous Canadians are more likely — by 56% — to be the victims of a crime than other Canadians are. Lastly, Indigenous Canadians made up 25% of the national male prison population, and 35% of the female’s.

To put this last statistic into the appropriate context, First Nations people make up only 4.5% of the national population, however, as previously stated, they make up at least a quarter of the prisons.

Canada, although in a much more subtle way than the United States, also had segregation policies just a few decades back. Even though laws were changed, institutions persisted and this discrimination is now carried out by citizens who possess racist attitudes.

Recently, Historica Canada commissioned a poll of 1,000 people and found that Canadians are generally in the dark about the historical and cultural contributions that minorities have repeatedly made to the nation. Less than 6% of people recognized important figures such as Indigenous human rights activists or filmmakers.

“We have Canada Day parades, we have Canada Day celebrations downtown. On National Indigenous Day we don’t have cities or municipalities holding parades or holding events where concerts are played to celebrate Indigenous people.”

Wade Grant, an intergovernmental Officer with the Musqueam Indian Band.

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