BREAKING: Harper government about to roll out "Get Over It" campaign

OTTAWA - April 1, 2015

In a stunning and unexpected
development, Windspeaker has learned that the Harper government
is planning to announce a significant campaign targeting
Indigenous people and Canadians' attitudes towards them.

The idea being floated? To begin the process of dissolving National Aboriginal Day and replacing it with a "Get Over It" campaign.

In an internal memo relating to the upcoming federal budget, which was recently shown to Windspeaker, the Harper government plans to reduce the federal contributions associated with National Aboriginal Day starting in 2015.

A senior official in Aboriginal Affairs spoke to Windspeaker under the condition of anonymity.  The official claimed that "Canadians, overwhelmingly, are tired of the negative attention associated with Aboriginals. Treaties, Residential Schools, poverty, lower levels of education and health delivery. It's all very negative. The Harper government wants to turn this collective frown upside down."

"Yes, Canada was responsible for Residential Schools... it was a mistake, clearly... we apologized and have made huge compensation payments, right? It's also been 25 years since the last one was closed, so let's get beyond that negativity. Let's "Get Over It."

"It's not meant to be glib or superficial, but living in a society where everyone is equal - isn't that the goal for all Canadians? Yes, Canada has gone back on its treaty obligations. That was unfortunate, but that was also 100 years ago, so let's all agree to be equal from now on and just "Get Over It."

According to the internal memo the Harper government intends to "start changing the narrative regarding Canada's Aboriginal people from negative to positive before the next National Aboriginal Day and well before the fall federal election."

Windspeaker has made repeated efforts to contact the office of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt as well as the Prime Minister's Office regarding this proposed camapign and the details we have uncovered. Windspeaker was told we were "stupid" for even asking.

Details of the campaign include:

• Three T-shirt design choices to choose from. (not sure if and when hoodies or bunny hugs will be available)

• Initial printing will be 500,000 shirts for year one (distributed in priority sequence first to First nations then Inuit then Métis then finally non-status.)

• 1.4 million Canadians that claim Aboriginal heritage on the census forms will get their own top quality t-shirt by year three.

A final word from our contact: "Wouldn't it be great if every Canadian had one of these shirts, to show that Canada has indeed - Got Over It. What a positive message!"

This is a developing story. We will be posting updates.

In related news it is April 1, 2015. Happy April Fools!