While many efforts are taken to combat racism, there is no denying it still exists in our country, province, and yes even here in Yorkton.
There is certainly an underlying tension which exists between many First Nations and non-First Nations people.
The question which we should be asking is why such tension, the racism, still exists.
There is no denying the past is marked by events and circumstances which created tensions, distrust, and sadly hatred between the two peoples.
It only takes listening to one First Nations' elder talking about the abuse which occurred all too often in residential schools to understand the situation of the past.
But, at some point we have to learn from our past, but still step toward the future as partners in Canada. We can't afford to exist as two factions which at times seem to be simmering just below the point of a major confrontation based on the color of our skin.
Somewhere along the way we need to make a greater effort to know, understand and appreciate each other's culture.
Too often we simply are not making the effort to try to understand the position of the other.
For many non-Aboriginals, it is difficult to be blamed for things which happened before most of us were born. We can appreciate terrible things occurred, but we can't be blamed for the actions of a previous generation either.
On the other side, First Nations people lost their culture, and were left with a generation of scarred people, which is still having a effect on their people, so the wounds are still healing.
Part of that healing is going to need a coming together of both cultures.We need to better understand that.
We see efforts in education being made to build that foundation of understanding from the ground up.
However, there are opportunities for the rest of us to better understand each other.
Recently, (June 21) National Aboriginal Day activities were held in Yorkton, and sadly few non-Aboriginals were there. Ditto the Treaty Day celebration held two days earlier, or the major powwow held in May.
Such events are a chance to glimpse the culture we need to know better and appreciate more as we move forward.
Hopefully in the future we will all take the opportunities to learn more about each other, so we can create a more united future where racism becomes something relegated to the history books.
