4.12 Listen To My Drum Weep

Imagine That!

Did you know that for over 100 years, Canada discouraged First Nations culture and discriminated against First Nations people? You may have learned about this in social studies.

• Potlaches (special celebrations with food, dancing, and ceremony) were banned.
• Land was taken over and First Nations people were told where they could and could not live.
• Children were taken away from their families and forced to go live at "residential schools" where they were not allowed to speak their languages and had to live with and try to act like the "white" people. The "white" people were often very mean to these kids!
• The government had an "Indian Act" that allowed all of this. It wanted First Nations culture to change to be just like the European cultures.

Can you imagine having to grow up without any of the people who care about you, not being able to speak your language or follow your traditions? Can you imagine if this happened to your parents or your grandparents before they raised you? It would be hard to remember life before these bad things started!

Many Canadians know how wrong this was. The picture on this page shows a display that was at a BC university called "100 Years of Loss". 100 years - a LONG time!