For all the mindless scrolling that social media offers, sometimes we forget that it’s a powerful tool for the dissemination of information. Journalism is often censored, something I was recently reminded of when I saw the period drama ‘Anne with an E’ on Netflix.

But what stayed with me long after the final episode was not the fight for women’s freedom or journalistic censorship. What remained was a grim reminder of the toll that colonisation took. We all remember the colonisation of Africa and Asia by European erstwhile powers, but somehow, we forget the complete annihilation of cultures that happened in North America and Australia.

Countries like India, Vietnam, etc. won back independence while still preserving their sense of self and their heritage, however it may have evolved over centuries. But the price that the indigenous folks in North America and Australia paid, and are still paying, lies forgotten.

The most shocking revelation for me was in 2021, when a mass grave of more than 200 children was dug up near a school in Canada. What came to light was a tale that needs to be told, however much it may shame us as a species.

“Starting in the 1880’s and for much of the 20th century, more than 150,000 children from hundreds of indigenous communities across Canada were forcibly taken from their parents by the government and sent to what were called Residential Schools. Funded by the state and run by churches, they were designed to assimilate and Christianize indigenous children by ripping them from their parents, their culture, and their community. The children were often referred to as savages and forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their traditions. Many were physically and sexually abused, and thousands of children never made it home.” Source.

These children were stolen or forcibly taken from their homes, their communities and held prisoner in these ‘schools’ where they were stripped of their identity and heritage and forced to conform. They were brainwashed into believing that indigenous people are savages and that the only way they can be allowed to live is if they rid themselves of their cultural identity, embrace Christianity and shun their previous lives.

These children were held captive, tortured and abused (physically and sexually) under the garb of ‘civilizing’ them.

It’s easy to think of this as the past and brush it off. But this continued until recently. As recent as the 1960s. Interviews given by children who went through this chill me to the bone.

A papal apology was issued by Pope Francis in 2022 when he travelled to Canada on what he called a ‘penitential pilgrimage’. “Pope Francis recognized the abuses experienced at residential schools that resulted in cultural destruction, loss of life, and ongoing trauma lived by Indigenous Peoples in every region of this country.”

Though a start, it isn’t nearly enough. Australia recently rejected a referendum to give a greater voice to First Nations people. A 55% resounding NO showed that 240 years of colonisation seemed to be enough reason to wipe away the rights of a 65,000 year old civilisation. That’s right, the ironically named ‘First Nation’ people or the Australian Aboriginals are perhaps the oldest civilisation on earth, going back 65,000 – 80,000 years. And yet, they don’t have a voice in a parliament built on their own land.

If we are to make amends to the follies of the past, we have to start by accepting that follies have been made. Grave injustices have occurred. Not by whitewashing history. The very idea of calling an entire culture wrongly – Red Indians – because Christopher Columbus found America when he was actually looking for India, and because their complexion was more sun-kissed than the pale European complexion, is a travesty.

So, if you are as incensed about these things often brushed under carpet, or even mildly curious, read up. Read more about the cultural genocides that happened, and that continue to happen in parts of the world that we now accept only in their colonised forms. See movies like Killers of the Flower Moon which are few and far in between but go a long way in making us realise that our perception of indigenous communities is not accurate but in fact one created by years of falsehoods.

I am a true believer that there’s no one point in history that defines a culture. People evolve, cultures adapt, countries change shape. Time is ever fluid. There’s no point in trying to revert to a point in time. I’m not saying that one should try to go back to their pre-colonised versions, that is but impossible. But to deny the rights of the people who originally inhabited that land, or to even see them as being ‘lesser’, is just wrong. And it’s never too late to right a wrong. The first step is mere admittance.