In a move that reeks of virtue signaling and political grandstanding, our neighbors to the north have decided to take it upon themselves to issue a travel advisory for LGBTQ individuals planning to visit certain states in our great nation.
Canada, a country that prides itself on its ‘progressive’ policies, has now turned its judgmental gaze towards the United States.
The Canadian government’s advisory, as reported by the Washington Post, cautions: “Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “2S” stands for “two-spirit,” a term that originated with Indigenous peoples to describe a range of gender identities.
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, took to the podium last week, stating that the advisory was issued because the Canadian government is deeply concerned about “the interests and the safety of every single Canadian.”
She went on to say, “We have professionals in the government whose job is to look carefully around the world and to monitor whether there are particular dangers to particular groups of Canadians.”
Freeland believes that issuing this advisory was “the right thing to do.”But let’s take a step back and examine the facts here.
The advisory fails to pinpoint any specific U.S. states that pose a supposed threat to the LGBTQ community. Instead, it paints with a broad brush, sowing fear and division based on a narrative that seems more rooted in political bias than actual concern for citizen safety.
Government spokesperson Jérémie Bérubé cited legislation passed this year in some states as the motivation behind the advisory, pointing to laws “banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events.”
It seems that Texas has become the poster child for this advisory, with its recent legislation targeting drag shows and banning gender-affirming care, not to mention the 2021 bill restricting K-12 transgender athletes from competing on teams aligned with their gender identity.
But let’s not forget, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the same Canada that has had its fair share of controversies, including its treatment of indigenous peoples.
Let’s examine some of those issues.
1. Residential Schools: For over a century, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in residential schools where they were not allowed to speak their native languages or practice their culture. Many faced physical and sexual abuse, and thousands died while attending these schools. The discovery of unmarked graves at several former residential school sites has brought this dark chapter of Canadian history back into the spotlight recently.
2. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: There has been a high number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. The Canadian government launched a national inquiry into this issue, which concluded that the disappearances and deaths amounted to a Canadian genocide.
3. Land Rights and Resource Extraction: Indigenous communities have been fighting for their land rights for decades, often in opposition to government-approved resource extraction projects, including pipelines, mining, and logging, which threaten their traditional territories and the environment.
4. The Sixties Scoop: Between the 1950s and the 1980s, a significant number of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes, a practice known as the Sixties Scoop. This resulted in loss of cultural identity and heritage for many.
5. Water Crisis in Indigenous Communities: Many Indigenous communities in Canada do not have access to clean and safe drinking water, a basic human right. The government has been criticized for not doing enough to address this issue.
6. Socio-economic Disparities: Indigenous peoples in Canada face significant socio-economic disparities compared to non-Indigenous Canadians, including higher rates of poverty, lower levels of education, and shorter life expectancies.
7. Cultural Erasure and Discrimination: Indigenous peoples have faced centuries of cultural erasure and discrimination, including bans on cultural practices and languages, and systemic racism in various institutions.
It seems a bit hypocritical, doesn’t it? To stand on a pedestal and issue warnings about perceived injustices in another country while failing to fully address the skeletons in its own closet?
