Check out this article about "The Little-Known History of How the Canadian Government Made Inuit Wear ‘Eskimo Tags'."
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/the-little-known-history-of-how-the-canadian-government-made-inuit-wear-eskimo-tags
It is yet another troubling example of how Canadians treated each other in the past, not necessarily one to another, but a government to it's people. How does this compare to other past injustices in our country?
This topic is quite relevant this week -- the final publications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have been released. Here is a news link to the story; it includes a summary (and a full link) to the Report's 94 Recommendations -- it's worth having a look.
Are there a few of the 94 recommendations that could be achieved quickly (e.g. within a year)?
Leave a comment below with your thoughts on either the "Eskimo Tags" or the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations.
I find it interesting how the Eskimos had to wear tags just because people couldn't pronounce their names or their language. I don't think that is right. even though some of the Eskimos were alright with their tags, some were not. its kind of like how dogs have to wear ID tags because no one can communicate with them. I feel like that wouldn't be a great thing to go through, just because people don't understand what you are saying doesn't mean you need to wear an ID tag. And it is crazy to me how the last person to get one was in 1982...
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the identification tags they wore around their necks are much like those that soldiers wear to identify themselves incase they are unrecognizable after there death or a serious injury. Quite literally these people were at war with assimilation and where fighting to be identified as anything but a number. The Government tracked their every move much like the tagging of an animal, as their children where being ripped from their arms and thrown into residential schools the government kept their location a secret even from families grieving begging to have their family back. this also reminds me of when Hitler made the Jews where arm bands and how trump wants to make the Muslims wear arm bands, we need to stop history from repeating itself and it starts with apologizing to those we have hurt be it aboriginals or the Japanese, and better yet show them we are sorry by fixing the problems we have made -felicity
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