This question seems to be asked the most by some Canadians who antagonistically challenge the rights of a majority of people with native ancestry.
The answer is simple: Canada
is multicultural and the constitution is supposed to protect the rights of
citizens to identify as they wish without discrimination.
These antagonists justify their
posture by faking support for people who have colonially recognized indigeneity
and accusing their unrecognized cousins as "pretenders", "race
shifters" and thieves of colonially perceived privilege.
Antagonists, for their own
unfounded reasons, might say, "Why should one indigenous ancestor be
favoured over hundreds of other European ancestors?
This question is subtlety racist
and politically inspired. Declaring ones indigenous identity is personal to
each individual and lacks evidence of illegitimacy.
Identifying as indigenous
involves emotional as well rational reasons. Pride in ones European heritage is
rationally compromised for the following reasons:
· Historical European settler
attitudes were self righteous, arrogant and domineering in every way! A
political majority of Canadian settler descendants have inherited and continue
to justify their ancestral felonious invasion of North America.
· our indigenous ancestors were
mistreated as inferior by our European ancestors.
The most important reason for
choosing indigenous self identify with just one ancestor is the reality that we
live on the land belonging to our indigenous ancestors---not in Europe!
If there are non-indigenous
Canadians who identify as indigenous, our descendants should consider it an
honor that a white settler descendant would choose to have an indigenous rather
than a European bias.
Though Canada has benefited indigenous as well as non-indigenous citizens with limited social security and conciliatory policies; it still remains superior and coercive.
Only when indigenous values are incorporated into government infrastructure will it truly deserve patriotism from all citizen.
