A HARROWING HISTORY
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began hearing testimony in 2010 from more than 7,000 people, and reviewing 500 documents about the devastating impact of residential schools upon aboriginal children. National Post reporter Joseph Brean outlines nin
1. AN EXHAUSTIVE ACCOUNT
Tuesday’s release of an executive summary is only the first stage in the rollout of this massive project of research and consultation. Established as part of a court settlement under the leadership of chairman Murray Sinclair and commissioners Marie Wilson and Wilton Littlechild, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( TRC) report is expected to include two million words over six volumes, with the full report to be published in the fall.
2. DETAIL TO ENRICH A PATCHY HISTORICAL RECORD
Much is already known about residential schools, but not all. They were established in the 1800s, made mandatory in 1920, and lasted until 1996, when a school closed outside Regina. At the peak there were well over 100 schools, more than half run by the Catholic Church. More than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were housed there, of whom more than half are still alive. Many have told the TRC they were abused by staff, teachers, clergy, or even older students. Sinclair has memorably described residential schools as “candy stores for pedophiles.”
3. USE OF THE TERM “GENOCIDE”
The word genocide is sometimes used controversially to describe Canada’s current treatment of Aboriginal people. It is less controversial when used historically to apply to policies under which children were forbidden from speaking their languages, or engaging in their cultural or spiritual practices. Last week, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin called this an attempt at “cultural genocide,” giving official approval to a widely held belief. “Cultural genocide” is not mentioned in international covenants, but Sinclair, Manitoba’s first native judge, has said any state that engaged in such behaviour today could expect a genocide case to be mounted against it. “They did it by forcibly removing from their families and placing them within institutions that were cultural indoctrination centres, really,” Sinclair said last week on CBC. “That appears to us to fall within the definition of genocide.”
4. DETAILS OF COMMEMORATION
This week’s activities in Ottawa follow half a dozen other gatherings hosted by the TRC across Canada, which shared a focus on how to adequately commemorate residential schools. There is much to be honoured, especially the children whose fate is unknown, who are thought to have been buried in unmarked or even mass graves, by authorities whose record keeping was notoriously poor. More than 6,000 children are thought to have died in residential schools, often after being subjected to abuse and malnutrition. Some schools had a mortality rate of 60 per cent, according to the TRC’s interim report.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RECONCILIATION
The TRC’s purpose is dual. On the one hand, it aims to reveal the “complex truth” about residential schools “in a manner that fully documents the individual and collective harms.” This involves creating an accurate and public historic record. But it aspires to do more than just prevent such things in future; it aims to actively reconcile the past with the present, to “guide and inspire a process of truth and healing” that leads to reconciliation among Aboriginal families and communities, between the various institutions involved, and in Canada as a whole. Part of that is a national research centre and regional offices to support the work of headquarters, but more specific proposals are expected Tuesday.
6. WHAT WILL THE GOVERNMENT SAY?
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt’s performance in question period Monday suggested the government might have already said as much as it intends to. Prime Minister Stephen Harper famously apologized for residential schools on June 11, 2008, of which Valcourt reminded the House on Monday. He is expected to make an address of reconciliation to the House of Commons, the substance of which will be widely scrutinized.
7. WHAT WILL THE CHURCHES SAY?
Many of the churches that ran residential schools — Catholic, Anglican and others — have already apologized and participated in the TRC and its events. The Anglicans, for example, have run a memorial campaign called 22 Days to coincide with the release of the report. Church leaders are expected to play a key role in Tuesday’s events.
8. INTERNATIONAL REACTION
The TRC is already regarded as a model and an inspiration by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and other indigenous groups around the world are expected to look to the report for guidance and inspiration in their own struggles to resolve historical abuses.
9. A WAY FORWARD
After the ceremonies, education is likely to be a key theme in the reconciliation efforts, given its corruption in the residential schools. For example, Jackson Lafferty, education minister for the Northwest Territories, has offered a new curriculum on residential schools. Whitewashing of history has often been cited as a key failure of Canada’s response to such historical transgressions.