School survivors feel left out of event

OTTAWA • Residential school survivors complained of not being given a chance to speak Monday at an event marking the 10-year anniversary of Canada’s apology in the House of Commons.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett gave a speech at the Canadian Museum of History to mark 10 years since the previous Conservative government issued a formal apology for residential schools — but she was quickly overshadowed by survivors who felt compelled to share their experiences.

Survivors Peter Sackaney and his sister Vivian Timmins took the stage just before elders were expected to deliver a closing prayer.

As a boy in residential school, Sackaney said he was ordered not to speak — a memory that came to him as he listened to Bennett’s remarks.

“I said, ‘No, no, no, I want to get up and say something, because I’m no longer that little boy. I’m a man,’” he said.

The event at the museum, hosted by Bennett’s office and organized by the Legacy of Hope Foundation, included a healing ceremony, remarks by Bennett and others, and the unveiling of a new art exhibit that pays tribute to survivors.

During the healing ceremony, Sackaney said, he had an urge to say, “I’m hungry” — something he’d been forbidden from expressing at school.

“They starved me,” he said. “Always, always when it comes to honouring survivors of residential schools — put them up here — let people see they’re real.”

WHY WEREN’T WE AWARE OF ANY OF THIS? WHERE ARE ALL OF THE SURVIVORS?

Timmins took aim at the event itself, saying she only learned about it on Friday — and that other survivors would likely feel excluded from the formalities.

“Why was this done last minute? Why wasn’t it planned?” she asked. “Why weren’t we aware of any of this? Where are all of the survivors?”

A spokesperson for Bennett said her office was not responsible for organizing the event at the museum, and that the department had been in touch with partner organizations for about two months before a second event that took place Monday in the Commons foyer.

James Fitz-Morris also noted that the entire schedule had to change late last week because the department wanted the events to take place later in the day — but then votes were scheduled.

Timmins gave an emotional account of her experience in residential schools, including being forced to eat her own vomit.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILES The office of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said she was not involved in organizing Monday’s event marking the tenth anniversary of the government’s apology to survivors of residential schools.