After visiting the Belkin’s Witnesses and the Museum of Anthropology’s Speaking to Memory: Images and Voices from St. Michael’s Residential School, it seemed to me that many Canadians (myself included) have begun to think within the “us versus them” framework, that many of them have tried to dismantle. It appears to me that a large majority of the TRC events are focused on the relationship between the Canadian government and the First Nations people. Additionally, there is a large focus on the Christian church’s relationship with the First Nations people. This makes sense for obvious reasons, especially due to the way that these institutions are primarily responsible for the residential schools- a large focus of TRC events.

As was discussed by many of my peers in last Thursdays class (Feb. 13^th), the various churches apology statements are severely lacking in expressing initiatives that they will take in order to aid aboriginal communities. These churches statements are written in a way that suggests they are distancing themselves from the problem rather than providing solutions or aid for it. However, it seems to me that many Canadians are doing something similar. Despite being knowledgeable about TRC and aboriginal related issues, they distance themselves from the issue. I have often seen people think critically about the government and churches actions but not go beyond that. We begin to think within the “us and them” framework, separating ourselves from the government, and thus thinking we are not part of the problem. We are critical of the churches lack to take action but yet we do not take action ourselves.

Perhaps, we should start focusing less on the relationship between the church/government and the First Nation peoples, and begin focusing on their relationship with all other citizens of Canada. Distancing ourselves from the situation is always less effective than taking action and participating in it. I believe Canadians should start thinking about what we can do to aid aboriginal Canadians rather then only considering what the government or churches should be doing.