This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP) establishing Fort Calgary on the banks of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. From that beginning, Calgary has grown to be the third largest English-speaking city in Canada, with a population of just under 1,700,000 in its metro area. It is the energy capital of the country, a major international tourist destination and constantly scores at the top of lists of the best cities in the world. In the past, major anniversaries, such as the 100th and 125th took place all around the city, centred around Fort Calgary. The NWMP arrived to get rid of American fur traders who, for the furs, were trading local indigenous tribes bottles of whiskey, with which the tribes had no experience. The whiskey was destroying their heritage and traditions, and it needed to be gone. Once the police ran the traders off, they established Fort Calgary to keep them away and save the indigenous people from destruction. Now, 150 years later, the celebrations will not be of the festive kind, nor an acknowledgement of the city’s position and prestige on the world stage. Nor will celebrations be held at Fort Calgary on the banks of the Bow and Elbow, because Fort Calgary is gone. It is now called The Confluence, a nod by the DEI folks in city hall to the name of the area given by the Indigenous many years ago. .The 150th anniversary celebrations are shaping up to look more like a woke-inspired series of lectures and presentations designed to remind Calgarians of the guilt they must feel about the arrival of the NWMP and the on-going reconciliation efforts by the City of Calgary. The woke folk at city hall, where common sense isn’t common and light fights to escape the black hole, want you and me to feel guilty about anything and everything, including: the climate; using plastic forks; living in single-family homes; driving our cars rather than taking transit or riding bikes, and; the NWMP. Guilty, guilty, they say; we’re all guilty. That desire to make us feel guilty, should they succeed, would satisfy their addiction to attempting to control our lives. Unfortunately, too many people feed the addiction — one that appears to have taken over planners of Calgary’s big anniversary. The 150th celebrations will be about the continuing theme of reconciliation with indigenous people. This isn’t about indigenous people; it’s about control. I hold most indigenous people in high respect. The impressive developments on the Tsuut'ina land on Calgary’s western border are a testament to their vision and strength. The NWMP came here to help indigenous people by chasing away the bad guys and they remained to keep the bad guys away. .Yes, there were the years white people tried to assimilate indigenous people into their world, which were horrendous years for the indigenous, who were treated horrifically. However, there isn’t a single person alive today who was part of those dark days. How many times do we need to feel guilty and offer reconciliation? Every Calgary city council meeting starts with the acknowledgment the city is on original indigenous land and, the woke folk hope, an admission of our guilt. Yes, it’s a small thing, but the tribal elders are very much in favour of our guilt, and perhaps even more in favour of the $30 to $32 billion paid by Canadian taxpayers on settlement activity and program budgets. That’s a lot of money saying sorry. But back to the 150th celebrations. According to Jennifer Thompson, president of the Confluence Historic Site and Parkland, they will showcase “Indigenous voices that will reflect on the legacy of colonialism.” “When we look back at the 50th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the building of Fort Calgary, many indigenous perspectives and voices were omitted in the storytelling of the impact of the Mounties coming to this land,” said Thompson. “So, there is a major part of the story that we believe needs to be shared and told from indigenous perspectives in this very important event.” The impact of the Mounties coming to this land? Really? .The NWMP came here to help indigenous people by chasing away the bad whiskey traders and they remained to keep the bad guys away. If the Mounties hadn’t arrived, it’s possible there would not be any indigenous people left in the Calgary area. This not to deny there were white people who tried to assimilate indigenous people into their culture, which were horrendous years for the indigenous. There may have been some Mounties involved, but those were mostly religious efforts. Those horrific days must never be forgotten, but there comes a time when continual reconciliation loses its power. Those days are also a reminder of what happens when people believe they have the right to control other people. Read more about the celebration and the events here.
