Vincent J. Curtis
16 July 24
RE: Canada apologizes after labelling Lakota and Dakota as refugees. CP story. The Hamilton Spectator 16 July 24.
Since history is no longer taught in school, the arrant nonsense of Canada apologizing for “labelling” the Sioux Indians and followers of Sitting Bull as refugees escapes notice. They were indeed refugees, from the United States military, as the story does admit.
After the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Sitting Bull and his followers sought refuge in Canada, and the protection of the North West Mounted Police, from the wrath of the United States military. Sitting Bull remained in Canada from 1877 to 1881; he and his followers receiving some supplies from the government of Canada, which was faced with the prickly diplomatic problem created by their presence in Canada’s sparsely populated west, and the “Manifest Destiny” of the United States.
Ultimately, Sitting Bull and some of his followers were persuaded to return to American territory, but many stayed. Strictly speaking, the remainder weren’t in fact aboriginal to the territory they occupied, which is in modern-day Saskatchewan. They simply found space in Canada’s ample North-West. Being refugees from America is why these Sioux were treated as refugees by the Dominion government; and their returning to the U.S. was Canada’s preferred option. The U.S. had ceased its war on their plains Indians.
Many Sioux (or Lakota, Dakota) didn’t return, but by the terms of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, not being found “in possession,” they weren’t entitled to treatment as aboriginals in Canada by Canada. Nevertheless, Canadian policy, though ad hoc, was generous to the Sioux refugees from America; but they weren’t entitled to a treaty, since it was they who moved into and occupied space in Canada, not Europeans who moved into territory they were in possession of; nor were they entitled to a reserve, for the same reason and by the policy that they return to the U.S.
The apology is racism writ large.
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