grams, segregation of the sexes to pre- vent births); and cultural (attacking elements of a culture’s identity). Churchill says member states of the United Nations objected to the aspects of the definition that would amount to self-incrimination if they signed the drafts. The United States and Canada objected to the cultural component of the definition, and had it removed before signing. As a result of the 1948 Convention of Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, genocide became any policy undertaken with intent to destroy in whole or in part any ethical, national, racial, or religious group.

The norm of genocide,” he says, “is to proceed by nonlethal means. To go about it not by killing.”

Churchill’s lecture explores the five criteria of genocide while giv- ing examples of how the United States and Canada have violated them all. First is killing members of a group on basis of identity. The extinct Beothuk tribe from Newfoundland were vic- tims of this treatment even though the British government issued an official proclamation of protection for the Beothuk in 1810. This proclamation would not have been necessary if the British weren’t shooting Beothuk as if they were wolves. Seven years later, British settlers at Twillingate were still shooting Beothuk on site.

The second criteria is any pol- icy that visits serious physical or men- tal harm on a target group. Churchill points at popular culture for examples that alienate racial minorities to the point that they disassociate themselves from their culture in order to avoid social discomfort. Psychological dam- age from residential schooling in Canada has left scars on the aboriginal community that still have not healed.

The third criteria is creating conditions that attack a people’s abili- ty to sustain themselves economically - the clear cutting of Lubicon land in Alberta is an example of this. Churchill argued in court that the Friends of Lubicon were correct in protesting Daishowa for being genoci-

[4]

dal on economic grounds.

The fourth criteria is prevent- ing births within a target group. The Canadian government, who has a his- tory of removing aspects of the Genocide Convention that apply to their policies, revised the definition of genocide to exclude the prevention of births in target groups in 1986. Another criteria removed by the Canadian government is the forced transfer of children from the targeted group. This policy was used by the Canadian government to raise mem- bers of a target group outside of that group’s culture. Residential schools were a blatant violation of this criteria by the Canadian government. Around 100,000 First Nations children were forced to live in residential schools. The schools were funded by the feder- al government and run by churches in a deliberate attempt to assimilate natives into white society while destroying their religionss and cul- tures. The 1994 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples revealed that a startling amount of physical and sexu- al abuse also occurred at these

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schools. In an act of self-delusion, the government removed the fifth criteria in order to maintain the appearance of following the Genocide Convention. The government cut any legal strings implicating itself in genocide in order to avoid self-incrimination.

Churchill says member states of the United Nations objected to the aspects of the definition that would amount to - self-incrimination if they signed the drafts.

Perhaps we tend to forget or ignore some aspects of white Canadian history because like the gov- ernment, we do not want to implicate ourselves, or admit to our own sins. Seeing posters around town by the Heritage Front only reminds me of

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The government cut any legal strings implicating itself in genocide in order to avoid self-incrimination.

further delusion in our culture. Most people don’t feel comfortable admit- ting to our country’s role in systemat- ic racism. But the Heritage Front bla- tantly flaunts its own ignorance with pride. However, members of the Front are not the only ones lying to them- selves. Despite Ward Churchill’s testi- mony on the legal definition of geno- cide, the Friends of Lubicon were for- bidden from using the term to describe how the Daishowa_ corporation’s actions affected the Lubicon people. It is shocking and disturbing when white supremacist groups deny that the Holocaust ever happened, yet our own government has warped and twisted the legal definition of genocide to the point that they are also denying geno- cide.