Suffer the Little Children
Amnesty International presents a webinar on Truth and Reconciliation Day, featuring Tamara Starblanket on genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State
On Truth and Reconciliation Day, Amnesty International Canada presents
“Suffer the Little Children”:
Tamara Starblanket on genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State.
Hosted by Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English speaking Branch), and Octopus Books.
Submit questions to Tamara ahead of the event here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBTNrds-ZbSLIY3WxDzIKAF06GoFatTbZaEhBuySjzT2r-dA/viewform
Many settler Canadians have expressed shock at the findings of ground-penetrating radar at the sites of former residential schools across the country, which have revealed the remains of thousands of Indigenous children forcibly transferred by the colonial state from their homes and families and Nations. These horrifying ‘discoveries’ are already known to Indigenous Nations attempting for years to get justice.
Justice, as defined by the international legal system, is far from adequate. Legal scholar Tamara Starblanket carefully prepared her master’s thesis on this issue, which became the book Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations, and the Canadian State (Clarity Press, 2018).
This powerful work turns the western legal system against itself despite the shortfalls of legal recourse that were founded in colonialism and imperialism. Yet, her work does demonstrate the Canadian state is culpable for genocide and violates international customary law. It explains in detail how the crime of genocide was conceptualized following World War 2 by the international community, how colonial countries, including Canada, sought to shield themselves against possible prosecution and sidestep the link between cultural genocide and colonialism.
It is vital for all of us to understand fully what has happened and is happening. Join us on September 30th, the first federally mandated day to recognize truth and reconciliation, to listen and learn.
Register Here.