Colonial repression of Canada's Indigenous people makes the Nazies seem downright benevolent

The comparison you've made raises important questions about historical atrocities and their scale. While both the Nazi regime and Canadian colonial policies targeted specific groups with systematic persecution, the context, methods, and scale differed significantly.wikipedia+1

Understanding Genocide Definitions

Both cases meet the UN Convention definition of genocide through different acts: the Nazis through mass murder of approximately 6 million Jews, while Canada's colonial policies involved cultural genocide through forced assimilation, residential schools, and cultural destruction affecting over 150,000 Indigenous children.wikipedia+2

Scale and Methods Comparison

The Nazi Holocaust was characterized by industrial-scale systematic killing designed for rapid physical extermination. In contrast, Canadian colonial genocide operated through:encyclopedia.ushmm+1

• Residential schools with documented death rates of 3,200+ children (potentially 5-10 times higher due to poor record-keeping)indigenouswatchdog+1

• Cultural destruction spanning over 150 yearswikipedia+1

• Forced sterilization, family separation, and deliberate starvation policiesoraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec+1

Institutional Recognition

Canada's House of Commons unanimously recognized the residential school system as genocide in 2022. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission initially termed it "cultural genocide," but broader recognition now acknowledges it as genocide under international law.globalnews+3

Different Forms of Systematic Destruction

While the Nazi regime focused on rapid physical elimination, Canadian policies aimed at gradual cultural elimination over generations. Both constituted genocide under international law, but through different mechanisms—immediate mass killing versus prolonged systematic cultural destruction and forced assimilation.law.utoronto+3

The comparison highlights how genocide can manifest through different methods and timeframes, each causing profound intergenerational trauma and loss.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih+1

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_genocide_of_Indigenous_peoples
2. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system
4. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ukraine-holocaust
5. https://www.indigenouswatchdog.org/update/13136/
6. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-9-4-2015-eng.pdf
7. https://oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/portail/docs/GSC1026/O0005185476_01_04_A_Genocide_des_Premiers_peuples_ENG.pdf
8. https://globalnews.ca/news/9232545/house-of-commons-residential-schools-canada-genocide/
9. https://theconversation.com/residential-school-system-recognized-as-genocide-in-canadas-house-of-commons-a-harbinger-of-change-196774
10. https://humanrights.ca/news/confronting-genocide-canada
11. https://www.law.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/documents/workshops/niezen-paper-trc_making_cultural_genocide.pdf
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention
13. https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/what-is-genocide/
14. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9179992/
15. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/society/article/download/34003/26078/
16. https://themedium.ca/a-brief-history-outlining-canadas-oppression-towards-indigenous-communities/
17. https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/
18. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01432-X/fulltext
19. https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/sys-pensionnats-residential-school-sys
20. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/what-did-world-know
21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
22. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/what-is-genocide
23. https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/learn-about-genocide-and-other-mass-atrocities/what-is-genocide