Recently while attending the story pole raising at the Christina Living Arts Centre, I was surprised to hear Marilyn James of the Sinixt First Nation say her people were declared extinct in 1956.

Yet, there she was talking about her people and their customs as they are still practiced today.

The Sinixt migrated along the Columbia River, but in the 19th Century, they were subjected to violence by the gold seekers and miners who encroached on their territory, by the turn of the century, they were forced south over the border and not allowed to return. In 1902, the government identified 20 surviving Sinixt as status Indians and when the last one died, pronounced the people “extinct.” This history is described more fully in an excellent article, “Back from Extinction,” on the website thetyee.ca.

It’s another story from our past that we as Canadians are forced to confront as our rather smug sense of ourselves is continually challenged.

Since we adopted multiculturalism we’ve found ourselves continually challenged by these stories, and some of them don’t go back that far at all.

The prime minister recently apologized to the families of the victims of the Air India bombing in 1985. One of the family members recalled being disheartened to see then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney go to India to offer his condolences, as though the victims weren’t “really” Canadians.

Last week the Canadian Council of Provincial Child and Youth Advocates warned that there is a “humanitarian crisis” amongst Aboriginal children who are more likely to be taken into government care, less likely to graduate, and more likely to end up in jail. Poverty is a major reason for this disparity.

Two weeks ago the Braidwood Report on the Robert Dziekanski tragedy was released. Having landed in a country that prides itself on its tolerance and safety, Dziekanski was vulnerable because he couldn’t speak English.

As we celebrate Canada Day tomorrow we shouldn’t be afraid to show our patriotism, but we should also be aware that if we want to live up to our own expectations, there is still a lot of work to do.