" the Canadian constitution recognises special rights for Catholicism and Protestantism."
For schools.
Period.
It was a political deal, made in order to establish confederation, and was strictly about education. You can't turn an agreement on education into an unstated characteristic of the state.
There was a 200 year period where Christians signed legal documents with the people who lived here and then failed to honour those agreements. There was nothing in those treaties about stealing the native children, using them for slave labour, beating them for speaking their language, feeding and housing them poorly, letting them die by the thousands from treatable diseases, burying them in unmarked graves, and stonewalling in the present day when asked about it.
Did this happen to every single native child? No. Did it happen to thousands? Yes. Are First Nations still living in 3rd world conditions in Canada with limited access to education, healthcare, and job opportunities? Yes, to the point where China and North Korea can laugh at us when we talk about Human Rights.
If that's the Christian heritage you're proud of, well, the facts are there and whether you care to acknowledge them is up to you. If you don't you better start working on your defense at the Pearly Gates. "I didn't know" can no longer cut it. "I didn't believe" sounds kinda shaky to me. I wonder what St. Peter will say.
The Christian majority in Canada has been shrinking for decades and now, at 55%, barely qualifies as one. Soon it no longer will.
For schools.
Period.
It was a political deal, made in order to establish confederation, and was strictly about education. You can't turn an agreement on education into an unstated characteristic of the state.
There was a 200 year period where Christians signed legal documents with the people who lived here and then failed to honour those agreements. There was nothing in those treaties about stealing the native children, using them for slave labour, beating them for speaking their language, feeding and housing them poorly, letting them die by the thousands from treatable diseases, burying them in unmarked graves, and stonewalling in the present day when asked about it.
Did this happen to every single native child? No. Did it happen to thousands? Yes. Are First Nations still living in 3rd world conditions in Canada with limited access to education, healthcare, and job opportunities? Yes, to the point where China and North Korea can laugh at us when we talk about Human Rights.
If that's the Christian heritage you're proud of, well, the facts are there and whether you care to acknowledge them is up to you. If you don't you better start working on your defense at the Pearly Gates. "I didn't know" can no longer cut it. "I didn't believe" sounds kinda shaky to me. I wonder what St. Peter will say.
The Christian majority in Canada has been shrinking for decades and now, at 55%, barely qualifies as one. Soon it no longer will.