Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked on Monday in a conference in Kamloops if he believed the land was Stolen from the Indigenous people, replied ”Canada is a country that consists of Indigenous people who have been here for millennia, who welcomed in settlers, and in some cases, were overrun by settlers and others,” and “But we’re a country that exists today with a commitment to always learn from the past and always do better.”

Of course the land was stolen. All land is stolen from the indigenous people who lived there before. I don’t think there’s a Country in the World that wasn’t ravaged and overrun by someone. I don’t see the difficulty in just coming out and saying it. Be honest, be straightforward ” Yes, we stole it. ” Human’s have always been colonialist in their thinking. We still are. Only now we are focused, primarily, but not exclusively, on colonizing space. And if we should ever find a planet we can inhabit, and realize a way to get there, we will take it away from whatever indigenous inhabitants that live there. And we won’t think twice about displacing or even eradicating the natural species. And we will find some way to justify it, in our own minds.

So…Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau…YES, the land was stolen from the Indigenous people…and YES, the Indigenous people were treated unfairly, were displaced, were overrun, were mistreated, were met with the cruelty that colonization brings with it, and suffered abuse as a result. Don’t avoid the question with political rhetoric, don’t try to side-step the question.  Just admit it.