Reparation as luxury or as basic need: atonement for canadians, redistribution for Africa

Abstract

Demands for atonement for past wrongs to ethno-cultural groups have become popular in Canada. On November 12, 2005, the Government of Canada announced to the Italian–Canadian community a package to atone for wrongs to individuals of Italian origin unjustly interned as enemy aliens during World War II. This package was part of the government's Acknowledgment, Commemoration, and Education Program.¹ The prime minster acknowledged, but did not apologize for, the injustice of the internment. $Can 12 million were set aside for commemorative projects, but not to compensate any individual survivors of the internment, or their heirs.² This money is part of a package of $Can 50million – double the $25million originally set aside in the 2005 federal budget – to compensate a number of ethno-cultural groups for injustices their real or fictive ancestors experienced.³ The editorial writers of Toronto's Globe and Mail objected to the government's encouragement of a “currency of grievance,” calling it “the antithesis of a forward-looking public policy.”⁴ This objection encapsulates the debate about public policies and monetary payments designed to compensate for past wrongs to groups, as opposed to policies and payments designed to redistribute wealth to groups and individuals suffering in the present.

Citation

Howard-Hassmann, R.E. (2006), "Reparation as luxury or as basic need: atonement for canadians, redistribution for Africa", Davis, D.E. (Ed.) Political Power and Social Theory (Political Power and Social Theory, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 227-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0198-8719(06)18007-2