I find discussions on these issues from many Canadians, including in the federal parliament, to be -- well -- irrational, and full of "I know you are, but what am I" type childish behavior.
I've already written China vs Hong Kong, Canada vs Haudenosaunee Confederacy, but the focus of certain politicians is now directed at the Indigenous Uyghurs rather than post-British-occupation Hong Kong.
The Uyghurs are an indigenous peoples that have a history in that region dating back thousands of years. They call the region East Turkestan (or Uyghurstan), and reject the name Xinjiang (Sinkiang, meaning "New Frontier" in Mandarin Chinese). Many converted to Islam in the 10'th century, but that doesn't take away from their status as Indigenous peoples, and should not misdirect the focus of discussion toward religion.
Even the type of name imposed by China should sound extremely familiar to Canadians, given we have a province called "New Found Land" on one coast, and another called "British Columbia" on the other.
If you take a closer look at what China is accused of, it should sound extremely familiar. The re-education camps are the same as the industrial/residential/boarding schools used in the United States and Canada. Canada and the USA also used forced labour (both of Indigenous peoples as well as peoples kidnapped from other lands), and included women being forcibly sterilized.
In fact, I have yet to hear an accusation of China with relation to their "New Frontier" where there isn't large volumes of evidence of Canada doing the same thing or worse over a very long period (some dating from before Canada was "created" by an White Supremacist act of the British parliament).
Contrary to popular myth, the colonial and genocidal policies by Canada against Indigenous peoples is ongoing.
Video: Dr. Kim TallBear: Indigenous People "Very Clearly" Suffered Genocide
Do I believe that China is guilty of genocide? I don't know that for certain, as there has only been recent attention to the ongoing tension between the Chinese government and East Turkestan. If China did want to carry out a genocide under the radar of the global community, it would make sense that they would be trying to use the United States and Canada as the model.
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
While CANZUS (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States) are the most offending foreign/foreigner created countries, UNDRIP is not uniquely targeted at them. I consider UNDRIP to be the eventual recognition that the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights was never universal, and was drafted at a time when Indigenous populations (nations, etc) globally weren't given an international voice.
Those who want to give support to the Ughurs need to recognize that the louder representatives of CANZUS countries are, the more obvious their hypocrisy will become, and the less ability to help any of the Indigenous populations whose basic rights are being attacked.
I've found it particularly interesting to watch yesterday as several Conservative caucus members claimed to be incensed by China, and then this quickly followed by various Conservative caucus members being critical of UNDRIP. They are likely so disconnected from what is happening on Turtle Island and other parts of the world that they don't recognize how silly they look.
Mr. Garnett Genuis even asked, "Very specifically, what plans does it have to ensure that Canadian pension investment dollars are never again complicit in acts of genocide?", which is impossible given it is a Canadian pension and Canada is engaged in acts of genocide.
They likely incorrectly see this as being about Abrahamic religions (Largest 3 being Judaism, Christianity and Islam), or something to do with Communism. It is invalid to believe that colonialism and Indigenous genocide is limited to Communist governments, given the largest offenders claim to be Capitalist. The Conservatives were using standard White Supremacist assimilation language, not recognizing that what Indigenous peoples want is not to "fully participate in Canada's economy", but to have Canada stop blocking them from having their own governance and their own economy.
If Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island don't want to "fully participate in Canada's economy", and don't even believe Canada has legitimate exclusivity over this region, are there people in parliament who still believe they should be sent to re-education camps?
I understand wanting to help the Indigenous Ughurs, but the way Canadians do that isn't to ignore or erase the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. We need to move forward as quickly as we can to help protect the rights of all Indigenous peoples globally, and that starts on this homeland. Canadians don't have a legitimate voice condemning China until after we have made huge progress dealing with our own ongoing violations of human rights.
Let's make new friends
While not discussed within conversations around UNDRIP, I believe it is time for Canada to make new friends.
As an example, we are in a so-called "intelligence alliance" called the Five Eyes (FVEY). This is made up of CANZUS members plus the country that the CANZUS members were derived from, Brittan (now called the "United Kingdom" after more local colonialism efforts).
This is not the gang to be hanging out with if we want to become a better country. I consider the FVEY to be the axis of white supremacy.
We need Northern Turtle Island Defense, but we need to start to recognize that who we need to be defended from is the USA and other countries actively engaged in colonialism. It seems obvious to me that as Canada becomes less of a human rights abuser that this will offend the USA as it will call attention to their ongoing human rights abuses. We need to have better ties with other nations who can come to our aid if/when the United States threatens yet again to expand northward.
It should without saying that Canada needs to honour the treaties signed with their allies, including the Six Nations Of The Grand River, who were our allies the last time the USA tried to expand northward. Canada sent in the RCMP to depose the centuries old Haudenosaunee democracy and install a bureaucracy responsible to the Canadian crown. This needs to be reversed, and the sooner the better.
It is embarrassing how Canada has been more worried about how it looks within a White Supremacy gang than how it actually looks to other nations.
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