Canadian Indigenous Genocide: Ramification of the “Angel Complex”

Memorial for the discovery of 215 bodies in Kamloops Indian Residential School. Photo by Ted McGrath.

In 2016, journalists Denise Balkissoon and Hannah Sung first coined the term “angel complex” in a podcast episode of “Color Code.” This term is used to broach the fact that Canadians constantly compare their country to the United States on the grounds of social issues (i.e., racism and healthcare) to create a sense of smug superiority on national evaluation indicators. The “angel complex” ideology is an inveterate belief that causes Canadians to inadvertently neglect to improve the regulation of domestic social issues, engendering a history of denial regarding the unfair treatment of Indigenous communities.

The “angel complex” mentality focuses on the gap between Canada and the United States in terms of the healthcare and social welfare  systems while ignoring the importance of constantly improving Canada’s own healthcare system. During the Trump Administration, Canadians stayed aloof and compared the impact of the COVID-19 between the two countries and slammed the U.S. government for its failure to control the virus’ infection rate. After the comparison, Canadians became complacent with their health care system and touted its success to the world. But the truth is that Canadians' boasting about their MediCare system has caused them to overlook internal problems, thus causing the system to become sclerotic, owing to a chronic lack of federal funding to support its operations. Because of the obsession with comparing and criticizing, Canadians failed to pay attention to how to deal with the pandemic in a timely manner, resulting in local infection rates surpassing those of the United States, with irreversible consequences. 

Canadians with an “angel complex” mentality often compare the issue of racial discrimination between the two countries. They untruthfully believe that Canada is a superior place on racial issues when compared to their southern neighbors. This mentality makes it easier for Canadians to be ignorant of racial discrimination within their society. Canadians are familiar with the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but may not know much about Viola Irene Desmond, a parallel civil rights activist from their country who challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow and pioneered the racial equality act in Canada. 

In 2020, just as Canadians were condemning the social unrest and entrenched discriminatory practices in the United States, their country was also beset by similar problems. Recent world-shattering investigations brought attention to Canada’s history of unfair treatment towards Indigenous communities. In June 2021, more than 1,100 skeleton’s of Indigenous children were found across territories of Canada. Such news has gained the scrutiny of the global public. With the discovery of these bones, a forgotten and denied history of racism was brought back to the forefront. From the 1880s to 1997, there were 139 compulsory residential schools in Canada. These schools were funded by the Canadian government and administered by Christian churches to assimilate Indigenous people into white society and force them to discard their ethnic history in the process.

Previous investigations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada revealed that approximately 150,000 Indigenous children (i.e., Métis, Inuit, etc.) were removed from their families and sent to residential schools. There, they received a basic education in reading, writing, and math, but they were not allowed to speak their own languages or maintain their traditions. Approximately 3,000 children died while attending school due to poor sanitation and prolonged exposure to physical and sexual violence, as well as verbal and emotional abuse. Other children ran away due to hunger and exertion but eventually died while fleeing the schools.

In the wake of the discovery of the children's skeletons, the brutal history was resurrected, igniting popular outrage in Canada and around the world. These revelations raise the question as to how such atrocities were ignored: understanding the “angel complex” mentality may provide an answer. Canadians persistently compare themselves to the United States in terms of racism while ignoring domestic matters, namely the injustice of Indigenous communities. The failures of Canada to overcome racial discrimination, the history of the slaughter of countless children, and the fact that Indigenous communities, especially women, are still being victimized today are behind Canada’s inadequate inter-country comparison of superiority.

Canada's Indigenous population is about 1.67 million, accounting for 4.9 percent of Canada's total population. However, they face more poverty and violence than any other ethnic group. The unemployment rate for the Indigenous population in Canada was about 10.1 percent, compared to 7.0 percent for whites. In Ontario, the unemployment rate for Indigenous people in 2020 was 12.5 percent, while for non-Indigenous groups, it was 9.5 percent. Indigenous people economically suffer from the inability to receive higher education and are forced to acquire more skills and perform more labor to obtain equal treatment. Urban migration also plays a negative role in the comparatively low economic status of the Indigenous population, as 41 percent had migrated from their hometown to a new place.

The statistics presented above reveal the social injustice in Canada, but Indigenous voices present more compelling evidence. A survey released by the Angus Reid Institute shows that about 30 percent of Indigenous people feel they are seen as outsiders in Canada and about 36 percent of Indigenous people say that Canada is a “racist country.”

Canadian racism is ever-present. It is time to realize that claiming “Canada is not as racist as America” is not a solution to Canada’s internal social disparity. The “angel complex” only makes people ignore the problems that damage society and delay the implementation of widespread improvements. Such deep-rooted injustices against Indigenous people would not have continued for a century if not for beliefs like the “angel complex” hindering social justice reform. Racism in Canada is “more insidious and covert,” according to Charmaine Nelson, a professor of art history at McGill University. But I do not presume that Canadian racism is covert in nature; it’s because the linchpin of the social concerns is not on racial discrimination, and thus it goes unaddressed. Every country should have legitimate national pride, but Canada's distorted nationalism and its “compared to America, we are angels” mindset has led it to focus too much on intercountry comparison, thereby disregarding domestic issues. 

Lochlan Liyuan Zhang is a freshman in the Dual BA Program between Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin studying history. He is passionate about law, public policy, and ethics, specifically animal liberation.