Breaking My Heart
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chinese food dripping sauce
spicy beef and noodles
steaming vegetable rice
eggrolls and plum dip
spareribs and garlic
delightful
food
oh so delicious- most of us have all the food
we want but wait I do not have to go far away
within canada in my proud country
there is starvation poverty and death
now this will never be taught in schools but not a secret
that our first prime minister sir john a macdonald
starved aboriginal people into submission deliberately
to clear a path for the canadian pacific railway
his national dream . . .
it was not enough that fur trades brought diseases
small pox
measles
influenza
but they hunted the bison almost to extinction
leaving the aboriginals starving and desperate
the government withheld food
until the first nation people agreed
to live on reservations
designated areas trapped and humiliated
unable to leave they could not farm not hunt
dependent on the government for food
and if they complained
the substandard food rations were cut food
contaminated withheld children died many died
sir john boasted of the indigenous people
"on the verge of actual starvation" some hero
and even today 2015 there is widespread poverty
starvation on first nation reserves in canada
infant mortality
access to drinking water(laced with e coli)
high price food (brought by air)
living on welfare (with no way out)
oh no I do not have to go far to see starvation
slum conditions overcrowding sewage backups
garbage and broken houses and extreme poverty
it is a national disgrace
oh yes there are some sanitized reservations
there are some really pretty places but still
there are many not so nice
it is a horrible situation the hopelessness agonizing
and what is the answer the circle that goes on
and on since sir john a macdonald stole
their land their way of life
the government of canada should be ashamed
to allow this in this day and age
of abundance
in my proud country it is breaking my heart
_____________________________
July 2, 2015
Poetry/Epulaeryu /Free Verse/breaking my heart
Copyright Protected, ID 07-685-988-02
All Rights Reserved, 2015, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest,
Food Can't Live With, Can't Live Without It
Sponsor, Debbie Guzzi, Judged o8/2015
First Place
Copyright © Constance La France | Year Posted 2015
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