The unfortunate remarks that MLA Mike Morris made as part of the Liberal diatribe against the NDP Government's recent budget - I refer to his statement to the effect that the funds allocated to language renewal would be better spent strengthening police in First nations communities - could hardly surprise. Morris was a cop for many more years than a politician and carries with him a set of colonialist priorities that prevailed for much of Canada's history - and, obviously, aren't gone yet.
Back in our country's earliest days, legislation and its enforcement were all about keeping Natives under control so that land theft could proceed. For that, a strong constabulary was needed, especially when Indigenous children had to be scooped off to schools established to rid them of "Indian ways." The schools, of course, were not only cesspools of physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition, and even pseudo-scientific experimentation on the kids, but very intentionally, were places established to drive out native language. In that they were pretty effective, and it is only comparatively recently that non-Native politicians have apologized and taken halting measures - as the NDP budget proposes - to redress language and related cultural loss.
And so, it with great consistency that a long-term Mountie would rail against efforts to correct what, in fact, his occupational ancestors worked so hard to achieve. It's not surprising that Morris looks at First Nations communities primarily in terms of substance abuse and domestic violence - such has been the mindset that brought about residential schools, the banning of the potlatch, suppression of land claims and a lot more. Nor should we be shocked when, instead of an apology (something the RCMP don't get trained to do - nor for that matter did Christie Clark's thankfully defunct Liberal team), he would stick to his guns, so to speak, and in his YouTube rebuttal, presume to lecture First Nations leaders on what their priorities should be in making their communities safer and better. Great White Fathers have been doing this since Columbus landed five and a quarter centuries ago.
Norman Dale
Prince George
