text: And in the 40s we interned Japanese as official policy, and baited people of Germanic origin as an unofficial one.  We also treated the Irish abominably as refugees of the potato famine, and used Chinese as slave labour to build the railroad.  We robbed First Nations people of their land, wilfully gave them smallpox, and tried to disrupt their society with alcohol.  We practiced indentured servitude, a polysyllabic name for slavery.
  
  Canada's past is chock full of shameful deeds.  But in my mind, anyhow, we have tried to make amends, and to a large extent we enjoy one of the most tolerant societies in the Western world.
  
  Assuming the guilt that our forefathers should have helps no one.  We need to remember the past so it isn't repeated.....but we don't need to beat ourselves up over it.