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From the Toronto Star ...

When words are part of the healing
Comment by Anna Morgan - Jul 08, 2007

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says he takes no issue with the $10.5 million compensation given to Maher Arar, the Canadian wrongfully deported and tortured in Syria. It is the apology Arar received that frustrates him.

So far, the Canadian government has refused to apologize to the First Nations peoples for their treatment during the residential school era. Not that the aboriginal leadership doesn't want the financial compensation they deserve, but you have to wonder what makes the leader of an economically beleaguered community focus on words instead of money.

Many may question whether this seemingly noble position is genuine. I have no doubt that it is.

A year and a half ago, I had the privilege of touring Israel with 16 leaders of the Assembly of First Nations in a visit organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress. The trip was arranged to build bridges between two communities that don't know each other well.

On a grey afternoon in January 2006, the group of us walked slowly through Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The visit to the world-famous site, with its pictorial history of the destruction of European Jewry, its tree-lined commemoration of "righteous Gentiles" who assisted their Jewish neighbours, its monuments to the death camps where millions perished because of their ethnic identity and faith, was to be the centrepiece of the trip.

I have been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and visited Auschwitz during the 2005 commemoration of the camp's liberation, but the serene atmosphere at Yad Vashem provides one of the world's most moving experiences. The memorial grounds are a meditative island in the heart of the Jewish state's bustling capital, and it was impossible for the First Nations leadership, like all thoughtful visitors, not to feel the weight of Holocaust history. This time, however, there was a new dimension to the place.

Yad Vashem wasn't crowded that day and our group had some of the more intense spots to ourselves. I expected the children's memorial, and its unforgettable hall of mirrors where the names of more than a million child Holocaust victims are endlessly read aloud in candle-filled darkness, to have a powerful impact. But as we exited the dark hall, something else happened. We experienced an outpouring of stories about children lost right here in Canada. We then formed a circle and heard traditional aboriginal prayers that gave me an intimate glimpse at the tragic legacy of Canada's residential schools.

As one of the elders explained, there is no point comparing tragedies, and the plights of European Jewish children and indigenous Canadian children each stand on their own without any need to rank them in their severity. But there is something about the way the Jewish world has commemorated the Holocaust and honoured the memory of its victims that has allowed the survivors and their offspring to move on. In fact, it is for this reason that Holocaust denial is seen today as one of the most anti-Semitic of acts.

But for Canada's First Nations, the acknowledgment and commemoration of their own historic tragedy has not yet really begun.

It is not any experience I've had in Canada, but rather the experience I had at Yad Vashem, that has made me understand what national chief Phil Fontaine is talking about. Financial compensation for wrongs done to a person or community is, of course, helpful and necessary. But words and symbols go a long way. An apology on behalf of the nation for the residential schools travesty is really the least we can do.

See the Winnipeg Free Press story that follows the NAN press release ...

NAN responds to Rowe sentencing

     THUNDER BAY, ON, July 6 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, together with members of the Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, feels a sense of relief that former Boy Scout master Ralph Rowe has been designated a sexual offender, but says it's just the beginning of a healing process not only for direct victims, but whole communities affected by Rowe's abuse.

     "It's my hope the sentencing and sexual offender designation of Ralph Rowe will contribute to the healing process not only for the direct victims, but for all NAN members affected by his abuse," said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nation communities across Ontario. "It's time now to focus on healing and rebuilding our communities to ensure any victim of any type of abuse is comfortable to come forward and confident they'll be supported in doing so to avoid further long-standing impacts like those caused by Ralph Rowe."

     Fiddler's comments come after today's court decision following a week of testimonies from survivors in a Kenora court May 2007. The testimonies were from survivors of physical and sexual abuse which took place throughout NAN territory between 1971 and 1986.

     Rowe, who currently lives in Surrey, BC, worked in at least 18 NAN First Nation communities between 1971 and 1986. He served four and a half years of a six year sentence in 1994 for indecent and sexual assaults involving boys aged 6 to 16.

     He pleaded not guilty to all counts.

     The Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, together with NAN, is calling on the Church to enter a dialogue to continue to participate in supporting survivors, their families, and whole communities.

     "It's so important that the devastating effects of Ralph Rowe be acknowledged not only on behalf of the direct victims of his abuse, but the lasting effects on spouses and children and the social implications evident across NAN territory," said Fiddler, adding high rates of suicide and jail time are connected to Rowe's years of abuse.

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/For further information: Jenna Young, NAN Director of Communications, (807) 625-4952 or (807) 628-3953 (mobile)/

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From Winnipeg Free Press ...

Former minister gets 3 years for abusing First Nations boys
By Shelley Bujold - July 7, 2007

KENORA, Ont. (CP) -- After a day long hearing in Superior Court in this northwestern Ontario city, a former Anglican minister was found guilty Friday of sexually abusing boys and sentenced to three years in prison.

Ralph Rowe, 67, of Surrey B.C., was sentenced on counts of sexual abuse and sexual indecency involving three boys from northern Ontario First Nations during the 1970s and 1980s.

Justice Erwin Stach found Rowe guilty of charges involving three of five alleged victims.

Stach found Rowe guilty of forced anal rape and attempted anal rape on two of the victims on multiple occasions over several years.

The incidents took place in the remote First Nation communities of Weagamow Lake, Wunnumin Lake, Bearskin Lake and Big Trout Lake where Rowe served as an Anglican minister, a Boy Scout master and a pilot.

In the third case, Rowe was found guilty of indecent assault.

"He is likely one of the most prolific pedophiles this country has ever seen," Crown attorney Peter Keen said in calling for a prison sentence for Rowe. "Every community he's spent time in, he made offences."

Rowe was brutal to many of his victims over a long period of time, Keen noted.

Defence lawyer Robert Sinding sought a conditional sentence of two years to be spent under strict house arrest in B.C.

Stach delivered his sentence over several hours, thoroughly going over the facts before an emotional group of Rowe's victims.

Stach sentenced Rowe to three years for rape on one victim and three years concurrently for similar acts with the same victim.

In the case of the second victim, where Rowe attempted rape, he was sentenced to two one year sentences, concurrent with the sentence for the first victim.

The assault conviction for the third victim fell within a plea agreement Rowe made in 1994.

At that time, Rowe was granted a plea bargain which enabled him not to serve additional time for similar incidents where the assault included sexual fondling. During this trial, Rowe pleaded guilty to 20 other counts which also fell under the plea bargain.

Rowe will likely have to serve two-thirds of his sentence, though Stach did not place a minimum time before he is eligible for parole.

"Sexual abuse is an act of violence, on children (very) psychological. Sexual abuse has haunted them into adulthood," said Stach.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Rowe's sentencing is just the beginning of a healing process for his victims and the communities affected by his abuse.

"It's my hope the sentencing and sexual offender designation of Ralph Rowe will contribute to the healing process not only for the direct victims, but for all NAN members affected by his abuse," Fiddler said.

"It's time now to focus on healing and rebuilding our communities to ensure any victim of any type of abuse is comfortable to come forward and confident they'll be supported in doing so," he said.

The Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, together with NAN, called on the Anglican church Friday to enter a dialogue to continue to participate in supporting survivors, their families, and whole communities.

Rowe's abuse has had "devastating" social implications across NAN territory, Fiddler said, linking high suicide and crime rates to Rowe's years of abuse.