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As You Like It, or Truth and Reconciliation hypocrisy

October 2024

I debated writing this column as I didn’t know if everyone would get the point I’m making here, but here it goes anyway.

Now that the National Day for Insincerity and Hypocrisy, otherwise known as 30 September, is over, can we have an honest conversation about why this day is pretty much a complete waste of time.

I say pretty much because it does raise awareness of Indigenous issues, not just those related to the residential school issue, which is certainly a good thing, but we see very little action as a result. Many will attend Indigenous ceremonies, especially politicians and other public officials, adorned with their almost obligatory orange shirt, then resume their normal lives for the next 364 days until next year.

First Nations across Canada are still having issues with things like a lack of adequate housing, clean water, mental health and substance abuse issues and high levels of unemployment.

Now, there are many issues out there that we routinely celebrate each year to raise awareness, something that we may be overdoing a bit as every day seems to be a day for recognizing something out there, but raising awareness and actually doing something about the issue are two entirely separate things.

Which is better: me wearing an orange shirt, or First Nations communities having clean drinking water? I think we all know most of the issues faced by Indigenous Peoples, so enough of the awareness and more action, please. As Elvis once sang, “A little less conversation, a little more action.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in 2015 to be the champion of the Indigenous Peoples, yet he has consistently failed to do anything substantial, including completing just a mere 13 of the 94 items listed in the Call to Action section of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.

If Toronto didn’t have clean drinking water, it would be the lead story of every newscast and newspaper until the problem was fixed. We hear all the time about the housing shortages in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area, but how about the deplorable condition of the housing stock on a lot of First Nations territories across the country?

Even the obligatory Land Acknowledgement that all politicians and public officials give at all public gatherings has become more self-serving and performative, something that actor and playwright Cliff Cardinal brilliantly satirizes in his one-man show, “The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It.”

While Cardinal does the play slightly differently now, as originally conceived, the play was presented as a radical adaptation of the Shakespeare play, “As You Like It,” premiering at Crow’s Theatre on National Truth and Reconciliation Day in 2021. With the audience expecting Shakespeare, Cardinal comes out on stage to give the Land Acknowledgement and after 90-minutes, tells the audience that’s all the time they have and thanks for coming to the show. It was a bit of a bait-and-switch and as such, it got a mixed reaction, with most getting the joke, but not all. It sent shock waves through the Toronto theatre community.

In its current form, Cardinal’s play is a more direct critique on the patronizing nature of the Land Acknowledgement, thus the expanded title. When playing to Toronto audiences, Cardinal no longer dupes his audience into thinking they are going to see Shakespeare, but when on the road, it’s back in its Shakespearean dressings and misleading title.

Indigenous people have stood side by side with us as allies since the War of 1812, through two world wars, Korea, Afghanistan and peacekeeping missions, despite being treated as second-class citizens through much of those years. The disrespect our Indigenous brothers and sisters have endured can’t be so easily solved with an orange shirt and a day of awareness, but what can the ordinary citizen do? Well, not that much really.

What our politicians need to do is actually improve the lives of Indigenous Peoples across Canada, like the members of the Grassy Narrows and Attawapiskat Nations, have been demanding over numerous decades. Maybe instead of wearing an orange shirt, people need to ask federal politicians every time we see them, especially government MPs, to specify what they are doing to improve the lives of Indigenous Peoples.

The mainstream media, whom are in a better position than the average citizen to effect change, also need to do a better job of not letting politicians off the hook when they spout the usual platitudes about how much they care and how they are continually engaging the Indigenous community.

The truth of Truth and Reconciliation Day is that Justin Trudeau has proven over and over again that he doesn’t care about Indigenous Peoples. For that matter, he doesn’t care about other issues, such as veterans, currently serving military members, western Canada, the prosperity that resource development can bring to Canadians, integrity, women’s issues, budgets and monetary issues.

Sources: https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/column-orange-shirts-land-acknowledgements-only-do-so-much-9589348?utm_source=BarrieToday.com&utm_campaign=39f051b4c0-DailyBAR&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c8859d4fc8-39f051b4c0-324518997, https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/cliff-cardinal-is-a-master-of-emotional-manipulation-in-the-land-acknowledgement-or-as-you/article_89702370-a9e9-5ca4-adbe-e0c9e4d6dc0a.html, https://colinthomas.ca/as-you-like-it-or-the-land-acknowledgement-didnt-like-it/, https://www.reconciliationeducation.ca/what-are-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-94-calls-to-action.

About the author

Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth served in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve for 13 years (1987-2000). He served with units in Toronto, Hamilton & Windsor and worked or trained at CFB Esquimalt, CFB Halifax, CFB Petawawa, CFB Kingston, CFB Toronto, Camp Borden, The Burwash Training Area and LFCA Training Centre Meaford.

Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/as-you-like-it-or-truth-and-reconciliation-hypocrisy/

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