They Came With Crosses: AttawapiskatOil, collage, and rope on panel.I created this painting in respo
They Came With Crosses: AttawapiskatOil, collage, and rope on panel.I created this painting in response to an emergency declaration in the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario, Canada after 11 members of the nation (about 2,000 in total) attempted suicide in one night. This painting was created to bring attention to the systemic neglect and attempted genocide of the First Nations peoples of Canada through the Residential Boarding School system in Canada that operated until 1996.As noted in the report produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada.”Much like other church-affiliated residential school programs around the world (especially in the United States), the intential degradation of indigenous cultures combined with poor healthcare, rampant sexual abuse, and high death rates has made for a contemporary suicide crisis that has been generations in the making.Further Reading:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/06/canada-dark-of-history-residential-schoolshttp://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdfhttp://www.amnestyusa.org/node/87342 -- source link
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