As a Canadian who was very surprised to find shame underneath all kinds of personal issues after some decades, I want to say I also personally feel and observe

As a Canadian who was very surprised to find shame underneath all kinds of personal issues after some decades, I want to say I also personally feel and observe shame on all sides of almost anything involving native peoples here. A comment probably can't begin to convey what any of that means if you haven't experienced it yourself in some way. Practically speaking let me badly paraphrase a 12-step sponsor who said, it might take a year to "work the steps" for an average person, or 5 years if you're saddled with shame issues. What that means on the scale of a country is pretty much what we observe, decades or centuries of denial, avoidance, actions that make the problems worse. One of the main characteristics of shame is that shame induces shame, and shame is so unbearable people will do almost anything to not feel shame. I don't know what the answer is or where it even begins but I think any approach that ignores the role of shame will keep awful things happening.