"A Deafening Silence," Nancy Macdonald (2015)

 In the article "A Deafening Silence," Nancy Macdonald (2015) wrote about Indigenous people's suffering in Canada. To elaborate on the feelings of the Indigenous people, she first told us about some current issues in the Indigenous community. For example, the writer mentioned many suicide cases (The youngest person who committed suicide is an 11-year-old boy), MMIWG: missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (From 1995, more than 800 women and girls have been murdered or missing), poverty, children's school dropping, a considerable percentage of Indigenous people in jail, poor health conditions, and poor living standards (Indigenous people are living like third to fourth world living condition). Then, she gave the audience some examples of the political leader's commitment to solving Indigenous people's problems and how much the Indigenous people had gained from those commitments. The truth is Indigenous people didn't gain much from those who have the power in Canada. That's why many activists are working hard to make the change. That's why the writer said, "The Idle No More movement initiated a massive push for change, and a huge number of activists have been channelling their energy to get-out-the-vote initiatives like Indigenous Rock the Vote." (Nancy Mcdonald, 2015, p. 3)

 

The writer Nancy Macdonald mentioned some quotations from different Indigenous scholars, including Wab Kinew (an author and university administrator), Hayden King (an Indigenous scholar), and Justice Murray Sinclair (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair), to support her points. Justice Murray Sinclair knew that the federal government would be the slowest to react and take any necessary actions to solve problems for the Indigenous community. However, the government is primarily responsible for this discriminative situation with the Indigenous community. Now, the only thing that can move them from their current policy is the vote; if voters want to change the case, the government will. Because they need the votes to keep the power, that's why it's essential to educate everyone about the Indigenous crisis. Then, more people will become aware of giving the right to the Indigenous community. The Federal government will have no choice but to take the right policy to treat the Indigenous community. Hayden King mentioned that Canadians have become very sensitive to humanitarian issues in the world. This attitude is excellent, but at the same time, they do not care about the Indigenous problems. All humans should always be treated the same, but Canadian decision-makers didn't include the Indigenous people in this issue. They have been fighting for a long time to achieve their right.

 

Reference:      

Macdonald, M. (October 2015). A Deafening Silence (Volume 128, Issue 40, p. 1- 4.). Maclean's