Last week’s letter from Janet Fayleen expressed disappointment and admonished Fountain Hills AZ Tea Party. The letter’s premise was that our May 20 meeting, “Protecting the 2nd Amendment,” competed with
Leaving them to drown is not humane, as they take a long time to tire out and die. I know because on occasion I rescue them, tired and tailless, from the dog’s water dish. Wall lizards have been on the Island for more than 50 years, longer than the author and probably most of his readership, yet we don’t try to drown, shoot or sticky trap them just because they “aren’t from around here.” Leave the lizards alone! On our small farm we have been growing crops and living in harmony with the lizards at “ground zero” in Central Saanich for four years. They scurry around the greenhouse starting on the first sunny days in February and live in piles of leaves and rocks around our farm.
However, Indigenous people have been trying for decades to tell us about the criminal activity that occurred. The letter-writer’s attempt to speculate about the cause of death is inappropriate, and his point that other children died at a young age in this era is an attempt to minimize the terrible impact of these schools, which is incredibly harmful to survivors. He points out the stark difference himself that non-Aboriginal children had headstones marking their graves, meaning that their parents knew how and when they died. I am ashamed and saddened not only that individuals still attempt to minimize the impact of residential schools, but that they feel they need to publicly share their opinion, which helps no one and only does harm.