What does justice mean for Indigenous survivors of genocide in Canada?
Imagine if your child was ripped from your arms by police who were enforcing the laws of your oppressors; if the devil in the form of forced assimilation and colonisation, under the guise of church-run institutions, stole your children  and your flesh and blood were beaten, sexually violated, shamed and stripped of their identity; or if your child  or aunt, uncle, brother or sister  died from malnutrition, unsanitary living conditions or were murdered by their abusers. Imagine it as your beating heart ripped from your chest. The spirits of lost Indigenous children are crying out for justice. Finally, the world seems to be paying attention. Last months discovery in Saskatchewan of a burial site containing thousands of bones  the remains of 751 people, including many innocent children who were forced to attend one of the houses of horrors known as Indian residential schools  has unleashed global shockwaves. This comes just weeks after a similar discovery, in British Columbia, of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at another former residential school. Then just last week, a third such discovery was made of 182 unmarked graves at a school in British Columbia. Petition: Make sure youre not funding anti-gay conversion therapy After a six-month openDemocracy investigation, major aid donors and NGOs have said they will investigate anti-LGBT conversion therapy at health facilities run by groups they fund. But unlike the other aid donors, US aid agency PEPFAR has not responded at all. Please sign this petition to show that it must take action now. Sign the petition  Too often, the world sees Canada as a leader in peace and equality, as well as a place of vast expanses of stunning natural beauty. That faade has toppled for good. Indian residential schools were compulsory boarding schools with the official mission of assimilating Indigenous children, funded by the Canadian government and largely run by the Catholic Church. They existed for more than 100 years, with the last one closing in 1997. For decades, the terrors of these places went undiscussed and survivors were expected to stifle their tears and live out the rest of their days without complaint. Just get over it seemed to be the dominant attitude. Colonial violence past and present  Survivors have testified at the Truth and Reconciliation hearings of witnessing friends murders  some children died of malnutrition, others died of diseases like tuberculosis which was rampant in unsanitary living conditions. Children were systematically and forcibly taken from their families. There aren't many schools with graveyards in them. I dont expect to see true justice for the murders of our children in my lifetime. But healing is possible. Indeed, Indigenous people in Canada are already beginning to heal. Our younger generations are on fire, resurrecting our cultures and growing in strength. We are rising into our power as Indigenous Peoples and reclaiming what was stolen from us. I, and many Indigenous peoples, are losing patience with people who argue that our context is not genocide. This is what we have experienced: the stealing of lands and resources, and the oppression of the First Peoples. This didnt end with the closure of the last residential school in 1997. Colonial violence is alive and well now, in the form of what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also recognised as the current genocide of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls who suffer violence at 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous counterparts. Unsafe, unsanitary water systems and living conditions exist in numerous First Nations communities. Suicide rates have reached epidemic proportions. Indigenous men and women are grossly overrepresented in the prison system, and far more likely to experience police brutality. More than half of children in foster care are Indigenous. This means, ironically enough, that more Indigenous children are being raised by the state right now than were at the height of the residential schools system. On top of this, the federal government is currently refusing to follow Supreme Court rulings to pay restitution to Indigenous foster kids. Our families continue to suffer the fallout of intergenerational trauma from the atrocious abuses of the residential schools. This evil era, along with colonialism in general, almost wiped us out completely. Survivors were thrown out into the white world, broken and defiled. For too many, the aftermath of these experiences has included addiction, dysfunction, abuse, violence and other forms of devastation.