Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State- A Live Chat with Tamara Starblanket
Event Description: Many settler Canadians have expressed shock at the findings of ground-penetrating radar at the sites of former residential schools across the country, which have revealed the remains of thousands of Indigenous children forcibly transferred by the colonial state from their homes and families and Nations. These horrifying ‘discoveries’ are already known to Indigenous Nations attempting for years to get justice.
Justice, as defined by the Canadian and international legal systems, is inadequate. Legal scholar Tamara Starblanket carefully prepared her master’s thesis on this issue, which became the book “Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations, and the Canadian State” (Clarity Press, 2018).
This powerful work turns the Western legal system against itself despite the shortfalls of legal recourse founded in colonialism and imperialism. Yet, her work does demonstrate the Canadian state is culpable for genocide and violates international customary law. It explains in detail how the crime of genocide was conceptualized following World War 2 by the international community and how colonial countries, including Canada, sought to shield themselves against possible prosecution and sidestep the link between cultural genocide and colonialism.
