Don't fret, Apollonius! We have a near identical situation out here in Australia (your sister dominion in the southern hemisphere) where 1. Aboriginal "rights" advocatyes have (in line with the current global trend) jumped on the
remember George Floyd bandwagon and organised mass street demonstrations of supporters for the sake of scoring political points. Likewise, (2) the camp followers of vandals who attach themselves have grafittied the statues of figures like the 18th century English mariner Captain James Cook: whose survey of the east coast of our island continent led, 18 years later, to the decision to found the first British colonial outpost on Australian soil. I have often thought that the likes of Cook acheived more in his lifetime than these nobodies who demand that their statues be removed ever will.
So I can identify with your objection to the treatment of the memorial to "Gassy Jack" in Vancouver etc. But in the matter of indigenous 'first nations" being legislated special rights and priveleges I am, alas, of two minds. I hope you won't object to my following rumination?
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The Bowdlerised texts of Australian history given to us to study as school pupils during my boyhood days (over half a century ago) I now realise
lied to us by omitting to mention what should have been an obvious fact (and very likely Canadian history texts of the same era projected a similar "
steady peaceful progress of which we should all be proud" theme): since the British arrived and settled here
without the permission of the indigenous population then logically the colonisation and subsequent development of Australia was an invasion and therefore the Australian Aboriginals are (by definition) a conquered and subjugated people.
Any people on this earth who have ever suffered invasion by a foreign power (then had to live their lives under terms and conditions laid down by the conquerer): their livess disrupted; their traditions treated with contempt - automatically start out in life demoralised, handicapped. If you grew up in the midst of the culture of the invader/conquerer/coloniser it is still not a gilt edged guarantee that you (personally) will end up with a robust self-image free of depression and other mental ailments but it multiplies your chances of doing so.
To quote the memorable words of Sertorio:
"a people who have been conquered are a people who have been raped."
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In the case of New Zealand there was such an instrumenht of cession signed by the community leaders of the main Maori (indigenous New Zealander) tribes in 1840 known as the Treaty of Waitangi. Even though the terms and conditions of that treaty were subsequently dishonoured in practice the fact that it was signed at all (then subsequently ratified by the British Parliament) legetimised the annexation of New Zealand to the British Empire. No such treaty was ever offered to the Australian Aboriginals.
https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00001362
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So Apollonius! Ignore if you can the delinquent desecration of memorial statues etc for in the grand context of history it is nothing but a passing fad. Just be aware that indigenous peoples worldwide are desperately trying to revive/win respect for the tradition that form the core of their corporate beings (not the same as our own). The tangable acheivements of our memorialised forebears will still show up and be honoured in the end even though their stastues may temporarily be removed for the sake of a bogus sort of political correctness.
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The big picture:
Do I as a non-indigenous Australian have regrets that the colonisation of my country and its historically rapid rise to nationhood took place? Not at all!
By the 19th century the British were not the only nationality looking around the world for stray bits of undeveloped real estate to plant their flags on. It was globally the "trend of the time". Would this island continent have been ignored by the up to a dozen powers who could potentially have colonised Australia other than the British? Any one who believs so is indulging in make-believe.
One way or another the very last of the worlds
paleaolithic peoples were destined to lose their homeland to a more aggressive but far more energetic invader/s. History normally has no mercy on losers.
Don't mention this to Cassowary as he would probably suffer a stroke if he only knew; it was what even he would define as the left that consistently pushed for those legislative changes. 