The death of Queen Elizabeth has prompted The Tyee's 'quick quiz' poll asking if we think Canada should cut ties with the monarchy - @ this link:
https://thetyee.ca/Polls/2022/09/08/Canada-Cut-Ties-Monarchy/?results=true#poll-results
Here's my - kinda lengthy! - (optional) comment explaining why we must CUT THE CORD🤞 (esp. now that Charles the adulterer & his 'queen' are in)
Consider the following truths, which flowed from the gut - & the heart - because keeping well-informed is as essential to me now as breathing..
Canada's govts all talk about 'Reconciliation' without owning the genocidal atrocities VS. 1st Nations people by colonisation - carried out "by the Queen's men".
Decolonization & honoring U.N.D.R.I.P. are ways to properly "reconcile" with FNs -- by addressing not just burying/ denouncing early colonial Govts' widespread land grabs (= why FN kids were forcibly removed from their families/ homes & put into jail-like residential schools that condemned & replaced their ancestral FN oral histories/ truths with Govts' false narratives of 'valid' control..)
White 'settlers' were the main beneficiaries of colonial Govts' land-grabs/ power theft, while FNs were victimized & vilified, & corralled into Govt-ordered 'reservations'. Unlike other provinces, BC's founding officials didn't bother signing treaties for unceded FN land - they just appropriated & began enriching themselves by their unsustainable development/ extraction..
Colonial Govt-ordered apartheid/ oppression/ segregation of residential schools & reservations produced new generations of compliant Anglicized FN who returned as foreigners to their families, stripped of their elders' culture/ knowledge/ language/ traditions..
Many other FN kids were adopted by WASP families in an underhanded process that confirmed Govts' total disdain for indigenous rights - eg. the '60s scoop', info on which most non-indigenous citizens - & possibly many FN - are woefully ignorant..
Fast-forward to today & the past few years of Govt-claimed Reconciliation:
●While backing assimilated pro-logging, pro-industry FN bands, the BC-NDP has steadfastly ignored legit opposition by hereditary FN leaders (jurisdiction holders of vast territories outside of bands, affirmed by the Supreme Court) to industrial mega-projects like CGL pipeline built thru their lands without consent;
●Govt's automatic response to rightful FN protection of their own lands VS. CGL's many ongoing violations (reported on BC Govt's website: LOOK IT UP & be appalled!) has been to send in RCMP troops in military gear to suppress their eco-activist-backed peaceful protests - by all accounts, the same-old ugly harassment, intimidation & violence as b4.. despite BC-NDP's adoption of U.N.D.R.I.P. into BC law..
(It's to hereditary FNs' credit that they've resisted cont'd colonial oppression/ victimization & kept their cultural values, to inspire 'land protectors' of all stripes fighting for healthy communities & ecosystems against all odds: RESPECT)
Point is, our Govts (& main 3 political parties) have been hypocrites & liars favoring polluting big-industry/ globalization over interests of citizens & communities for too long.. & still push ecocidal, risky & polluting projects on Crown land - in which the Queen has never intervened or shown concern. Clearly, they don't care about Cdns - & it shows. That's unacceptable in 2022!
Yet when elected, officials pledge allegiance to the Queen instead of to serving their constituents, giving Govts even more of an excuse to work for corporations & not people. A true democracy is governed by its people - not answerable to a distant uninterested monarchy or any other entity..
Canada must be the only British colony that hasn't requested independence from the Crown! And that's a sad reflection of Cdns' apathy/ complacency - of which our govts have taken enough advantage (ie. Screwed us over repeatedly!)
We have never been so desperate as now to have the Greens - with or without a distant monarchy - lead Canada toward a better, healthier & happier destiny for everyone - but esp. for our kids & future generations...
(Let that sink in)