It鈥檚 National Aboriginal Day 鈥� let鈥檚 celebrate. The relationship between Canada鈥檚 aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples has not always been easy, and challenges still await us. There鈥檚 too much poverty in First Nations communities, and too few aboriginal students are finishing high school.
Those and other problems are serious, and we have much work to do on them, but we shouldn鈥檛 let them get in the way of recognizing and celebrating the aboriginal components of our shared history and culture.
While the day has been designated to honour the culture and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and M茅tis peoples, it鈥檚 a day for all 91原创s, not just those of us of aboriginal ancestry.
It鈥檚 a day to further distance ourselves from attitudes of the past, when aboriginal culture and history were too often dismissed as inconsequential by the newcomers from Europe. Over time, the view of aboriginal cultures has changed dramatically, and appreciation has grown for such things as the innate connection to the land and the deeply spiritual respect aboriginal peoples have for nature.
One of those who facilitated National Aboriginal Day was Manitoba MLA and First Nations leader Elijah Harper, who died May 17.
鈥淚t was specifically to celebrate aboriginal histories, cultures and identities and reach far beyond merely enduring or tolerating one another as aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples,鈥� Anita Olsen Harper, Elijah鈥檚 wife, wrote this week in the Ottawa Citizen.
鈥淭his day, as Elijah saw it, was also about espousing harmony and goodwill in spite of all the differences between the First Nations and most other 91原创s.鈥�
Those are ideals worth celebrating.
