Lessons on Reparations from Vancouver, Canada
Exploring the Impact of Native Acknowledgments and Healing in Canada Compared to the U.S.
I was on my flight back to SFO from Vancouver, Canada and I was reflecting on how the vibe felt different in Vancouver, Canada in terms of Native acknowledgements.
I looked up real quick if Canada gave Native Americans reparations.
“Following the original settlement agreement, the revised final settlement agreement now includes a total of just over $23.34 billion - an increase of $3.3439 billion - to compensate First Nations children and families.”
The funds are going to resources to help youths, young adults, and families through culturally sensitive care for their traumas.
Why are reparations important?
I can only imagine based on what I witnessed during my time working as a contractor in Gallup, New Mexico.
The town I lived in didn’t serve alcohol past a certain time and on certain days. We also couldn’t have portable hand sanitizers around because of high rates of alcohol abuse. One of the medical assistants told me someone once took the hand sanitizer attached to the wall.
I treated a father who struggled with alcohol abuse, so much so that he fell asleep outside in the snow. We couldn’t save his feet so he had to have bilateral amputations. Unfortunately, he passed away shortly after from a heart attack. I still think of his daughters (all younger than me) who would visit him.
I treated a young woman who started drinking hand sanitizer when she was 14.
I treated a man who had uncontrolled diabetes, a severe form of multiple myeloma, and other medical co-morbidities.
I treated so many other patients who were the sickest of the sickest. If they had diabetes, for example, it was the worst case I’ve seen.
My then-partner now husband looked up a place we were hiking and found out it was one of the worst nuclear spills in history (but I wonder why most of us never heard of it).
Unfortunately, they communicated this in English to the natives and so native kids continued to play in the water and the communities continued to drink the water. I wonder how many of the patients I was treating continue to be impacted by this.
I don’t know for sure obviously, but I wouldn’t be surprised that the nuclear spill on top of the mental health problems is all related to the terrible conditions I witnessed (physical and psychological health).
I looked up how much the USA gave to First Nations and it’s not much compared to how much Canada gave.
“Congress made appropriations until 1941. In total $5.5 million was appropriated for 400,000 acres of land, and further legislation added 875,000 acres to reservations. One million acres of grazing land and nearly one million acres intended for homesteading were returned to the tribes.”
Although both countries have a long way to do in terms of reparations and healing, I feel like I could feel the difference when I was in Vancouver, Canada. I know I only went to Vancouver, but there were Native art everywhere, remembrance, acknowledgements everywhere. This is more than any major city I’ve ever visited in the USA
Some street and city signs were in native languages. There were land acknowledgments in many places - it felt like this was the norm and it IS the norm because they made it so.
I was there during the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and there were many popular places where they had signage educating about what it means.
In the USA, native folks were given terrible land (at least in NM). I learned during my time there that often there isn’t plumbing, running water, electricity, or grocery stores for hours (I read that this is also the case in Canada). Reservation land still needs permission from the federal gov’t to have those built, it’s just borrowed land rather than land back.
The USA is way behind compared to Canada in terms of the amount of financial reparations for native Americans and it’s not that we don’t have the money (look at all the billions on billions they’re sending to Israel this past year alone).
Both countries made comparable reparations to Japanese citizens after WW2 due to forcing them into internment camps amongst other forms of violence.
Both countries STILL need to make reparations to Black Canadians and Americans for the slave labor on which both countries were built.
I didn’t expect to learn so much from Vancouver, Canada. Tbh, I thought I was going to just eat and explore with family, and it also ended up being a way for me to see and experience what’s possible in terms of reparations.
It’s time we repair, heal, and take care of our communities. I don’t have the answers so I’m going to a couple links below if you want to learn more. Feel free to share any resources in the comments if you have them so we can all learn from each other 🙏🏽
Links
Learn about the native land on which you reside
