‘150 years of oppression’: Rally in Manitoba fights to change the story of Canada Day

WINNIPEG — Dozens of Manitobans rallied on Canada’s 150th birthday to educate the nation on their take on Canada’s history.

Members of Idle No More hosted a rally on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature Saturday afternoon to share a different story behind July 1.

READ MORE: Justin Trudeau says respect indigenous people who won’t celebrate Canada 150

At the same time, events were held nationwide by a group dubbed Unsettling Canada 150.

Alma Mann Scott was at the Winnipeg event, which took place next to the Osborne Street Canada Day celebrations.

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“We have gone through centuries of oppression and genocide,” Mann Scott said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have gone through centuries of oppression and genocide," Mann Scott said.

The events nationwide were moments for people to educate on a different narrative behind Canada’s history.

Organizers said Canada was built by confiscating the lands, territories and resources of Indigenous peoples. Members of the First Nations communities blamed this and July 1 for much of the suffering that Indigenous communities experience today.

“We’re sending a loud and clear message that we reject the colonial system imposed on Indigenous peoples,” organizers said in a statement.

Members of the First Nations communities said it isn’t Canada’s 150th birthday but that the country has had people on it for thousands of years and deserves that acknowledgement.

For those celebrating the 150th birthday of the country, organizers said they wanted to remind them that it has been 150 years of pain and suffering for many First Nations people.