Do you think that governments today should be held responsible for decisions and actions taken by previous governments?

There are many people that believe the governments today should be held responsible for the actions and decisions of previous governments, but other people oppose.

If I were to take the argument side of agreeing that governments should be held responsible, I would say yes. Governments from previous years were playing sides of racism, discrimination, and assimilation. They would convert Aboriginal peoples into the European culture. The residential schools were built to hurt the children, so they would be scarred enough to change their culture, language, and traditions. For many years, the government was built on trust for making Canada safe, proud, and diverse. By doing these acts, they should take full responsibility for previous acts, showing that these modern governments show empathy to the First Nations peoples by apologising and caring with remorse. For most purposes of the government, they would need to have proof of sympathy and awareness. The governments are apologizing for settlement and reimbursement against the past governments trying to make the country right again. I believe the government should take on the responsibility to help maintain liable status within the system, and help the country stay aware of the past problems we had, showing the steps Canada took in the future to make our population diverse, multicultural, and safe for all tribes, religion, culture, and status.

If I were to take the counter argumentative side, I would say no, the government was not responsible for the actions and decisions of previous governments. These acts were created and formed long ago but weren’t produced by our modern government. The residential school systems ended in 1996, showing that after this year, no new government should be held responsible for the crimes committed against them. When the decade of 2000s came, people started realizing severe fate and consequence, if our population wouldn’t show empathy to people of different status, culture, and tribe. The government would become more and more aware of these problems that continue in some parts of the country. I believe that there should be some aspects of awareness still within the government, but they wouldn’t need a formal apology to make things right for the Aboriginals. What’s done is done, and the government system changed immensely. We now believe to be multicultural and welcoming to all religions who enter/live in Canada. I believe that the government shouldn’t take on the responsibility of previous governments because of the changes that have been made over the years. This already shows acts of compassion, awareness, and care for the Aboriginals.

If I were to pick a side, choosing whether the government should take full responsibility or not, I would say yes. Even though, our modern governments haven’t done anything to hurt the Aboriginal peoples in any way, they still deserve a continuous apology to make up for what the previous governments did. It would also be right to make people aware of what happened in the past, and to help kids learn the incidents and act in school so the future won’t end up racially impacted by upcoming generations. The government doesn’t need it to be formal, but they should at least apologize once a year and have a day to remember the lives lost, and the one’s who fought against the act and won. The one’s who survived the schools should be remembered by everyone in Canada for staying strong throughout everything. I believe it would be right for the government to be responsible for previous governments because of the impactful and positive change shown in Canada throughout the years and past decade.