My subconscious kicked my conscious mind in the leg the other day as I was watching Prime Minister Stephen Harper give a lacklustre, uninspired, and insincere apology to aboriginal peoples on behalf of all Canadians for the treatment handed out at the hands of Canadians.

My subconscious thought that Mr. Harper was at least unenthusiastic about having to apologize.

His mannerisms and energy reminded my conscious mind of a man who had looked in the mirror recently and didn’t like what he saw.
Mr. Harper should be given credit for doing his job, standing up on behalf of us all and making an apology of this sort wasn’t something he anticipated he would be doing as the Prime Minister of Canada. The pressure to apologize on behalf of Canadians must have been too great to resist, since it was apparent he would have preferred to stick needles in his eyes then make the speech.

The 800 first nation’s leaders, residential school abuse survivors and aboriginal families assembled in North Vancouver’s Chief Joe Mathias Centre Wednesday stood listening carefully to every word Mr. Harper had to say in silence. When he was finished children grew restless, grandmothers wiped the tears from their eyes, and young men crossed their arms and stood quietly, not one person clapped.

My subconscious mind reflected at that moment on the attitude many people in Prince George and British Columbia have toward what they referred to as “the problem of the natives’ and how in consideration Mr. Harper’s attitude would probably be indicative of at least a small percentage of Canadians, geographic considerations given.

Granted natives in Prince George and British Columbia have, like all ethnic groups, their share of individuals deemed as undesirable by Canadian society and its true these individuals behaviours is at times indicative of the belief in natives being a problem. This in no way excuses the way many treat natives in my community or their belief that natives are for the most part a problem. Painting all members of an ethnic group with one colour because of the actions of a small percentage of the group is just a form of bias.

The apology by Canadians is nice, but over due and for many not as heart felt as many of my fellow Canadians might think, especially in a many parts of British Columbia. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the cases of abuse originate in British Columbia and for many here the same attitude that fostered the original treatment natives felt at the hands of Canadians still exists.

Many British Columbians are still guilty of referring to natives in tones and terms disingenuous and totally disrespectful of individuals they don’t really know anything about. The attitude that created the abuses of the past still lives in many British Columbians and the apology doesn’t close the door on the racist attitude that allowed the abuse of native peoples to exist.

Don’t get me wrong this is a time to celebrate for all Canadians, not just aboriginal peoples, maybe even the dawning of a red horizon for relations between native peoples and their fellow Canadians.

If you want to help, pay attention to the attitude of people around you and when you see an attitude toward any person that is wrong, say something. Standing up for the rights of others is standing up for your own rights, we all need a helping hand at times and believe me anybody with a racist attitude needs our help, really needs our help.