Traveling outside the US earlier this year, and its current war on everything progressive, it was refreshing for this brochure to be one of the first things visitors see along with bilingual (or trilingual) signage everywhere that includes Mi' kmaq to acknowledge the original dwellers of the land you're standing on. Sure, many people consider this an empty gesture at best or at worst insultingly condescending. Canada's nods to its first nations people, and its conscientious approach to identity more generally, prompts its share of eye-rolling. Fair enough. But in the face of the alternative being shoved in our faces daily here in the US, Canada feels as if it's on the righter side of history. 

When I visited Germany, historical evidence of the Holocaust and contextually appropriate explanations of Germany's role in it were ubiquitous. Especially in Berlin. For some in Germany it's too much and they feel as if we should move on. (Especially those whose views overlap with WW II's villains.) But providing a fuller picture of any event serves everyone I think. Doesn't it? Those who were victims are acknowledged and can move forward instead of staying in a limbo of suffering. The ones who committed terrible acts are given a chance to own up to their role whether as individuals or cultures and presumably emerge the better for it. Idealistic, sure, but shouldn't this be the least we strive for?  

During the whole Confederate statue controversy the debate was between either keeping the statutes up like some sort of Stalinist tribute to an outdated ideology, or tearing them down and in the eyes of some (usually being disingenuous as hell) "erasing history". There are no monuments to the Nazis in Germany on pedestals. But there are photos of them in well-lit rooms bordered by detailed contextual accounts of what they did like public history textbooks. Context, I think, is one thing in short supply in the U.S. in general. It's what makes it so easy to distort history and simplify the self-serving narratives repeated like hateful mantras.

That old cliche about those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat is still valid. But a certain part of America will never let themselves  be seen as the bad guys. In this they are not alone. Other cultures try to bury the past and airbrush their misdeeds out of history. It never works. Instead, the malignancy crawls out from under the carpet in another form.

In Canada, our failings are massive and well documented. Especially regarding the people of the First Nations. A pamphlet won't make that go away? But pretending that a thing didn't happen?  That's something sociopaths do.