Truth and Reconciliation Commission supports the needs of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation
TRC News Briefs
Week of April 1-8, 2011
TRC IN THE NEWS
Demise of Aboriginal Healing Foundation decried
Winnipeg FreePress
By Alexandra Paul
(April 5, 2011) - The Conservative government’s decision to wind down the Aboriginal Healing Foundation — which addressed the legacy of physical and sexual abuse suffered by residential school survivors — could become an election issue.
"We are going to call on all the parties that are running and ask them what are their plans for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation," Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper said Monday.
He said the mandate is far from finished.
"The suffering of our people is a stain on Canada," Harper said, adding restoring dignity after centuries of injustice is a slow process and can’t be wrapped up on an arbitrary timetable.
"Communities still need the support of such an entity for the well-being of our people."
Meanwhile, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will pick up some events the foundation will abandon when it wraps up this spring.
"The TRC has a small community-event fund to encourage communities to come together. We’ve said that any event that includes survivor support would have our support," TRC chairman Justice Murray Sinclair said Monday.
But the commission’s help is limited, the TRC head warned.
"We’re just providing one-time funding," for aboriginal communities the commission visits. The TRC is also working with Health Canada to provide more ongoing support.
The commission is taking testimony from residential school survivors on the impact of assimilation policies, and abuse, and commissioners are hearing about the impact of the foundation.
"When the funding was lost it left a vacuum in the lives in survivors that they haven’t been able to fill," Sinclair said.
The foundation was set up in 1998 with a one-time grant of $350 million, in response to the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In 2008, following the agreement for the $1.9-billion residential school settlement, the foundation was extended another two years with an additional $125 million grant.
Last year, Ottawa announced funding would not be renewed.
Former minister of Indian affairs Chuck Strahl said mental health and emotional support services would be provided through a $199-million Health Canada fund.
However, the new funding isn’t designed to replace the foundation’s work.
No healing without Foundation, says TRC chair
Anglican Journal
By Marites N. Sison
The loss of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which is winding down operations this spring, is “tremendous,” according to Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).
In an interview with the Anglican Journal, Justice Sinclair warned that residential school survivors “are literally without the capacity to continue the healing work that they’ve started.” The loss, he explained, has resulted in “further anger, further distress, and further alienation of survivors and their families towards the government.”
It also has affected the work of the TRC. “The loss adds to our burden when it comes to sponsoring community events because now communities are looking for greater assistance,” said Justice Sinclair.
Last year, the federal government decided that funding for the foundation would not be renewed after March 31, 2010. At that time, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl told Parliament that the decision did not mean that the federal government was ending its support for survivors. Instead, it committed $199 million to Health Canada for programs that provide mental health and emotional support services for former students and their families. “The Healing Foundation has done good work, but it was never meant to be a permanent policy, a permanent service deliverer of the federal government,” the CBC quoted Strahl as saying.
The foundation, which is aboriginal-managed, was established in 1998 and
provided with a one-time grant of $350 million by the federal government as part an action plan aimed at renewing Canada’s relationship with its aboriginal people. Since then, the foundation has funded 134 community-based healing initiatives.
Meanwhile, the TRC has announced that, beginning March 15, it will hold hearings in 19 communities throughout Nunavik, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon. The hearings will lead up to the second TRC National Event, scheduled June 28 to July 1 in Inuvik.
TRC IN THE NEWS- NORTHERN HEARINGS
Behchokö - Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Meeting
On Friday, April 15, 2011 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) will be visiting Behchokö. The Commission has been given the responsibility of telling Canadians what happened in Indian Residential schools, honoring the lives of former students and their families and creating a permanent record of the Indian Residential School legacy. Commissioners Murray Sinclair, Marie Wilson and Wilton Littlechild wish to meet with and listen to the experiences of former students, staff, their families and others who have an experience to share.
There will be an opportunity for individuals to make public statements before the commissioners. There will also be opportunities to make private statements to qualified statement gatherers. Emotional, cultural and professional support services will be provided by the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program.
The Hearing will begin at 10 AM, in the Behchokö Cultural Centre with an opening prayer. Private and public statements will be gathered throughout the day. Lunch and Supper will be provided. Closing ceremonies will include a youth hand game demonstration and a drum dance.
If you have any questions about the event please call the Tony Rabesca at 867.392.6381 ext 208.
Source: http://www.tlicho.ca/node/1064
RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
Phil Fontaine backing Indian day school class-action suit
The Cowichan Valley Citizen
By Lexi Bainas
(Friday, April 01, 2011) - The push to get restitution for Native people who are dealing with abuse suffered when they attended Indian day schools gained high profile support this week.
Polly Jack, local coordinator of the campaign, said Tuesday that she was delighted to hear from lawyer Joan Jack in northern B.C. that former Assembly of First Nations' National Chief Phil Fontaine is backing her class action lawsuit.
Since the spring of 2009, Spiritwind Inc., an Indian residential school support organization in Manitoba, with the help of Joan Jack, has been pursuing the McLean Day School Class Action suit on behalf of those First Nations students who didn't qualify to be part of residential school actions. That claim was amended on Nov. 24, 2009 so that all day school survivors across Canada could potentially be included (Indian/Inuit or Métis).
Since then, the action has found support among hundreds of grassroots volunteers, such as the Cowichan Valley's Polly Jack, who have been working steadily to gather potential claimants' information.
There are now more than 10,000 day school survivors registered with Joan Jack's law office supporting the class action right across Canada.
But, on March 25, Joan Jack's news was a boost for everyone involved with the suit.
Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has agreed to do his best to help with the resolution of the McLean Day School Class Action, she said, adding she is hopeful that a negotiated solution is possible so that the survivors can receive compensation sooner as litigation will take years.
With such strong backing both from Fontaine and in the community, Joan Jack is exploring partnering with a large law firm to create a winning litigation team.
Depending upon the availability of resources, she plans to attend several chiefs assemblies this spring to provide this update in person and ask the chiefs to take the information to their people so that they continue to increase their numbers and stay united.
Class action lawyers do not charge legal fees. However, the lawyer is allowed to receive support to cover the disbursement costs associated with taking the case forward.
To date, Joan Jack said she has covered 99.9 per cent of the disbursement costs for work out of her law office, but the class action has also received tremendous support from hundreds of grassroots people across Canada who donated both time and money to get the story out.
"The spirit of volunteer work supporting this case is a testament to the unity and strength of this cause for justice that is being driven by the grassroots people. Individual day school survivors have also sent unsolicited donations for disbursement costs in $20 or $40 money orders along with their forms," she said, adding that these contributions have added up to $530.
Polly Jack said she was really excited to get the news about Phil Fontaine joining the team.
"He is so high profile. It's great news for our native people. I was really praying for somebody to come forward, that somebody would come and help our native people like this," she said.
Although there had been some interest last summer when she started trying to get people to sign up for the class action suit, everything was getting difficult, according to Polly Jack.
"People were losing faith. The bands on the Island wanted an update. People were getting upset because they wanted some news and now there's news. It'll get major coverage because of Phil Fontaine. It's so exciting now."
Joan Jack first announced it on Facebook and invited Polly Jack to call her.
"I was so happy because I thought everything was going to die down. I'm overwhelmed now. I have to get more applications and get information out. We've had a fundraiser and it's been crazy. I've been working on it since July. It seemed like people weren't sending in their forms but now they've heard about this they want to. I've had to get 300 forms out because people want to register. The interest now is overwhelming," Polly Jack said.
Forms can be picked up at the Cowichan Tribes offices.
Anyone who has questions should contact Joan Jack directly. Her address is Joan Jack Law Office, Box 133, 198 Sheslay Lane, Five Mile Reserve, Atlin, B.C. V0W 1A0.
SURVIVOR STORIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Vanderhoof play aims to spark a change in community
Vanderhoof Omineca Express
By Hannah Wrigth
This is the first in a series of stories looking into the 14-month long Vanderhoof Spirit of Diversity Project. The project was a partnership between the Good Neighbours Committee and the communities of Vanderhoof and Saik’uz and aimed to promote and work towards a more welcoming and inclusive community to new immigrants, and one that honours our diversity. This first story looks into the recent community play “Saik’uz and Settlers” which was performed on March 18 and 19 at NVSS. The play marked the culmination of the diversity project that has delivered a number of projects to the community in recent months.
“A catalyst for change.”
That is the effect Lisa Striegler hopes her play and the spirit of diversity project will have in the community, long after the stage curtain has been lowered.
“First comes change in thought and attitude and then comes a change in behavior,” said Striegler who has worked hard during recent months writing and directing a play that saw packed out audiences on both performance nights.
The play covered 200 years of the areas history from First Nations pre-contact times to the present day and touched on a number of sensitive topics involving racism and exclusion in society.
The main themes that anchored the play were the same as those of the entire diversity project - to create a more welcoming and inclusive community for both new and old residents as well as for those entering the community in the future.
The overall theme of diversity was highlighted when after the play the audience were invited to share a variety of foods from different cultures in the community including dishes from First Nations people, South India, West Africa and some traditional Mennonite dishes to name a few.
During the play, a number of sensitive historical issues were put on stage and the result was both an educational and emotional experience for many who attended.
Striegler, a born and raised Vanderhoofian, says her writing of the play includes not only personal experiences of being a resident but also stories she has been informed of through research and conversations with others in the community.
The play begins with a story Striegler was told about 25 years ago when speaking with Stanley Thomas from the Saik’uz community. It shows the arrival of some of the first white settlers to the area - fur traders. They were starving and in need of help and they came across a gathering of people from Saik’uz. One of the clan said they shouldn’t kill these white men because they are the ghosts of their ancestors, and so they chose to help them instead.
“That’s by and large why white people survived when they got here - it was harsh living for the settlers and explorers who came here, and without the help of the First Nations they wouldn’t have survived,” said Striegler.
“So our first welcoming was by the First Nations people and that example sets the stage for how we need to be as well,” she said.
Other stories told within the play include the story of Dick Patrick, a local man from Saik’uz who fought in the Second World War and earned a medal of honour. When he returned home from the war, he was just another Indian to the residents of Vanderhoof.
“To make that effort and honor your country that way and then come home and be treated like dirt - you can’t even go into a restaurant and get a glass of water when you’re thirsty ... it’s a shameful thing and I think it hit home to a lot of people - especially those of pioneer age who lived through the war,” said Striegler.
Another moving scene was one that touched on residential schools - a policy that began in the late 1800s with the implication of the Indian Act by the Canadian government. The act included the providing of education for First Nations in residential school format. Lejac Residential School, located just before Fraser Lake, opened in 1922 and was operated by the Roman Catholic Church under contract with the government. Some children wouldn’t see their parents from September until June and boys and girls were separated so often siblings were split up. The play depicts some young First Nations children being taken by wagon to residential school for the first time. Striegler said she was able to speak to many people who went to residential school and so got a real idea of what it was like for children.
“The whole idea of these residential schools was to get the Indian out of the Indian, so they would conform in society,” said Striegler.
“It tore families apart and kids didn’t learn their cultural ways and lost their language ... as far as policy goes it achieved some of the things it meant to do but it never took the Indian out of the Indian.
“It just discombobulated everything and made it very difficult for young people to feel like they belonged anywhere,” she said.
Another scene in the play shows two teen girls at Lejac, talking about the potlatch being reinstated and one is saying how she don’t feel like she fits in anywhere.
“That was a bit of a statement about how difficult that whole policy was and a clear indication of why people still struggle with that feeling of belonging in today’s society,” said Striegler.
Maureen Mallais, the regional director for the College of New Caldedonia attended the play and says she was particularly moved by the depiction of how residential schools affected First Nations people.
“It’s an area of history that grabs us because we can’t imagine it happening now and it shows us how that might have impacted the First Nation communities and their loss of history and culture,” said Mallais.
Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/ominecaexpress/news/119285864.html
RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation through art: New book offers unusual perspectives on cultural divide
Kamloops Daily News
(April 5, 2011) - A book launch today in Kamloops carries with it the unusual offer of a free edition for everyone who attends.
Cultivating Canada: Reconciliation Through the Lens of Cultural Diversity features essays by non-indigenous, non-white Canadians in hopes of engaging a wider circle in the dialogue of truth and reconciliation with first peoples.
The reason for the gesture is that the publisher, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF), is dedicated to disseminating information, not marketing it.
“Their mandate is to get Canadians to talk about the issues, not to make money off it,” said Ashok Mathur, TRU’s Canada research chair in cultural and artistic inquiry.
The first two books dealt with truth and reconciliation in general and the second looked at the meaning of official apology offered in 2008 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Mathur was approached to work with contributors for this edition, which features extensive colour artwork and creative projects.
The publications are intended to focus attention on issues as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada embarks on a five-year nationwide process.
Mathur served as lead editor of the book, the third in a series produced by the foundation. He has been working on questions of reconciliation internationally in recent years. There are abundant cultural parallels within Canada (in the case of the Chinese head tax and Japanese-Canadian internment in the early 20th century) and overseas in countries such as South Africa.
And, of course, there are direct connections in Kamloops as well.
“We can’t forget that one of those residential schools was just across the river from The Daily News,” Ashok said. “The only way I can see these issues being dealt with in unfamiliar ways is through art,” he added while en route to a Kelowna launch of the same book.
George Erasmus, a former Assembly of First Nations national chief and president of the AHF, feels the book’s inclusive approach will draw a wider group into the discussion, “on the understanding that all Canadians are treaty people with an important place in this dialogue.”
Poet and contributor George Elliott Clarke, along with Mathur, will be at the launch at 5 p.m. at The Art We Are, 246 Victoria St. The even is free and open to the public.
Anyone unable to attend the launch is invited to order a copy from the website ahf.ca.
Reconciliation: ‘This is just the beginning’
Anglican Journal
By Marites N. Sison
Council of General Synod (CoGS) members reflected on the reconciliation process as it relates to the legacy of the Indian residential schools and most expressed the view that it is something that takes time, respect, and concerted effort.
National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald, who was asked to share the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples’ (ACIP) view of reconciliation, noted that the acknowledgment by CoGS members that the reconciliation process cannot be rushed “represents a significant advance…we are maturing in this conversation and moving forward.”
Bishop MacDonald said ACIP members looked to the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the wisdom of the church and indigenous tradition and agreed that reconciliation must involve the following: “confession and apology, examination and fearless moral inventory, making amends, and walking together in newness of life.”
He explained that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to reconciliation is when someone says after an apology, “Why can’t you get over this?” instead of realizing that “this is just the beginning, not the end of it.”
Making a “fearless moral inventory” requires an assessment of damages, while making amends means entering a phase of restoration of relationship.
“Walking together in newness of life” means discovering identity, said Bishop MacDonald. Canada is “arguably the most northern church in the world, the most aboriginal…but it’s not part of our identity because we don’t walk together,” he said.
CoGS, which is meeting March 31 to April 3, was responding to a request made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) for all parties to the schools settlement agreement to discuss what reconciliation means to them and what they want to achieve out of it. The TRC is part of a revised and court-approved agreement negotiated in 2006 between former students, churches (including the Anglican Church of Canada), the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal groups. It aims to provide former students and their families with a chance to share their experiences, and to set the historical record straight about the 150-year legacy of forced assimilation of native people through the residential schools.
Archdeacon Sidney Black, co-chair of ACIP, reflected on the “pre-settlement agreement and post-settlement agreement dynamics” on the reserve that he has been ministering to for 15 years. Instead of speaking the language of a victim, some schools survivors are starting to take pride in their culture and identity, he noted.
When he assumed the ministry, Archdeacon Black said it felt as though he had arrived “in the aftermath of a horrendous battle and I had to do the work of healing and reconciliation, and all I had were Band-aids to treat horrific wounds.” Self-esteem was very low and young adults were on the road to alcoholism, he said.
Today, “I see a freshness, something optimistic. It’s in it’s initial stages, but it is refreshing,” Archdeacon Black told CoGS.
He said that information sessions are being organized “where the community can come together and talk about understanding the impact of residential schools to reconnect with who we are…”
Esther Wesley, Anglican Healing Fund coordinator, also addressed CoGS and reminded them “to keep in mind how long it has taken us to get to where we are” on acknowledging the impacts of the residential schools. “Whatever we decide as a church, it’s a long-term commitment. We need to be patient,” she said.
She also shared some of TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair’s thoughts on reconciliation, including the need to engage youth, especially aboriginal youth, in the process. “Before we can talk about reconciliation or discuss right relations, and move towards mutual respect, we need to discuss how we can give self-respect to aboriginal people particularly the young,” she said. “They are the survivors of the survivors.”
Wesley said that Justice Sinclair, with whom she has had many conversations, believes that while reconciliation cannot be achieved within the lifetime of the TRC or his own lifetime, the framework for keeping the discussion going into the future can be achieved now. “At the very least, we can agree on the end objective of what reconciliation ought to be and what it ought to look like…We will start it, they will carry it. We need to give them the tools they can use towards reconciliation for themselves and the next generation,” she said.
Henriette Thompson, General Synod co-ordinator for ecumenical, inter-faith and government relations, asked CoGS members in table groups to respond to the following questions: “What would it take to help bring about reconciliation in your situation? What are some ways in which your thinking or manner of life would need to be addressed?”
Responses included suggestions to bring the conversation to parishes across the country, recognizing the need to “listen and refrain from being defensive,” and helping to ensure that Canadians, including those new to the country, are engaged in the issue.