COMMENTARY: Enough Canadian guilt, how about real solutions?

It seems the world is becoming more divisive with each passing day.

The harder people try to promote equality the more divided we become.

The latest example of this is the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) teachers union and their drive to remove Sir John A. MacDonald’s name from Ontario schools.

The ETFO says our first Prime Minister was the “architect of genocide against Indigenous Peoples” for, among other things, residential schools.

There is no shortage of people willing to offer their opinion on the debate, and we will hear them all over time.

There are those who are quick to draw parallels between this issue and the similar movement to remove racially charged statues in the southern U.S.

The two issues are as different as the countries themselves.

What is needed are ideas how to solve Indigenous issues and make the culture sustainable for its young in today’s world.

The reality is no leader of this country, to date, has been able to make that happen.

And no removing names from buildings or images from currency, or tearing down statutes, is going to help that.

Rather than rewriting history, wouldn’t the energy be better spent helping the next generation of Indigenous youth sustain their culture while living in a global modern world?

I think Canadians feel guilty enough, and this is just more of that, in lieu of real solutions.