George Sioui History Of Canada Chapter Summaries

1. When speaking about the history of Canada, Georges Sioui relies heavily on the metaphor of the accident. From Sioui’s perspective, there are many accidents that created Canada that we know today. The first accident, the discovery to North America by the Europeans, lead to First Nations populations being wiped out by diseases accidentally imported by unknowing Europeans. Sioui claims that knowing and acknowledging these events as accidents makes the truth clearer: The First Nations did not passively let their lands be taken, and the Europeans did not achieve everything that they did through power alone (Sioui, 311-312). Sioui is trying to change the conversation and empathetically call for a change to the way that Canadian history is taught. He points out that “there are two sides to our country’s history, one of which, the Aboriginal one, is almost completely unknown” (Sioui, 312). Sioui makes it quite clear that more must be done to create a multi-faceted vision of history that is truthful and inclusive.

The truth according to Coon-Come is that Canada was created on “the racist notion of two founding peoples” (Coon-Come, 3). The English and French peoples in Canada refuse to accept the fact that true history supports neither their cause nor their aims, and for that reason First Nations people have long been subjected to racist policy and abuse from the government. Although First Nations peoples are seen as outsiders on the land, the truth is that they have been in their territories for thousands of years. Their nations have existed far longer than Canada has, and yet they are not consulted when making important decisions that will affect their territory. From Coon-Come’s point of view, the truth has been hidden in history by the struggles of the English and