Former Prime Minister of Canada acknowledges cultural genocide at Indian Residential Schools
Paul Martin accuses residential schools of 'cultural genocide'
'Call a spade a spade,' former prime minister says
Apr 26, 2013
Martin on residential schools0:54
Residential schools engaged in "cultural genocide," former prime minister Paul Martin said Friday at the hearings of the federal Truth And Reconciliation Commission, adding that aboriginal Canadians must now be offered the best educational system.
"Let us understand that what happened at the residential schools was the use of education for cultural genocide, and that the fact of the matter is - yes it was. Call a spade a spade," Martin said to cheers from the audience at the Montreal hearings.
"And what that really means is that we've got to offer aboriginal Canadians, without any shadow of a doubt, the best education system that is possible to have."
The residential school system existed from the 1870s until the 1990s and saw about 150,000 native youth taken from their families and sent to church-run schools under a deliberate policy of "civilizing" First Nations.
Many students were physically, mentally and sexually abused. Some committed suicide or died fleeing their schools. Mortality rates reached 50 per cent at some schools.
In the 1990s, thousands of victims sued the Canadian government as well as churches that ran the schools. The $1.9-billion settlement of that suit in 2007 prompted an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the creation of the commission.
But the government has clashed with the commission and recently had to be ordered by an Ontario court to find and turn over documents from Library and Archives Canada.
"Every document is relevant," Martin said. "We have hid this for 50 years. It's existed for 150. Surely to God, Canadians are entitled ... aboriginal Canadians and non-aboriginal Canadians, to know the truth. And so let the documents be released."
New Democrat MP Romeo Saganash also testified on Friday about the damage he suffered in a residential school.
Saganash, who was separated from his family and sent to a residential school in the Quebec town of La Tuque, cried as he described the death of his brother Johnny, whom he never met.
He said his family still doesn't have a death certificate or know what really happened, and that he wasn't even allowed to return home for his father's funeral.
Saganash told the audience at the Montreal hearings that he might look like a normal person but isn't.
'I can never be normal'
"I can never be normal," said Saganash, who for the first few years of his life spoke Cree and lived in nature.
"And none, none of those kids who were sent to residential schools can claim to be normal today. It's impossible."
Like several others who spoke at the hearing, Saganash said injustices to aboriginal peoples did not stop with the closing of residential schools.
"There are still racist policies against aboriginals," said Saganash, who referred to the federal Indian Act.
"Even when we get a victory before the courts, the government continues to fight against our fundamental rights."
Romeo Saganash recounts his childhood2:15
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MP weeps remembering residential school life
April 28, 2013
MONTREAL -- A member of Parliament tearfully testified during a truth and reconciliation hearing about the damage he suffered in an Indian residential school.
New Democrat MP Romeo Saganash cried Friday as he described the death of his brother Johnny, whom he never met.
He said his family still doesn't have a death certificate or know what really happened.
The MP was separated from his family and sent to a residential school in the Quebec town of La Tuque.
He said he wasn't even allowed to return home for his father's funeral.
Saganash told the audience at the Montreal hearings of the federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission he might look like a normal person but isn't.
"I can never be normal," said Saganash, who for the first few years of his life spoke Cree and lived in nature.
"And none, none of those kids who were sent to residential schools can claim to be normal today. It's impossible."
Like several others who spoke at the hearing, Saganash said injustices to aboriginal peoples did not stop with the closing of residential schools.
"There are still racist policies against aboriginals," said Saganash, who referred to the federal Indian Act.
"Even when we get a victory before the courts, the government continues to fight against our fundamental rights."
Former prime minister Paul Martin and ex-auditor general Sheila Fraser also appeared Friday and spoke of the brutal living conditions and unacceptable level of services in aboriginal communities.
The residential school system existed from the 1870s until the 1990s and saw about 150,000 native youth taken from their families and sent to church-run schools under a deliberate policy of "civilizing" First Nations.
Many students were physically, mentally and sexually abused.
Some committed suicide or died fleeing their schools. Mortality rates reached 50 per cent at some schools.
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From CBC.ca
Residential school survivor says 'walls of silence have come down'
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin said schools broke parent-child bonds
Apr 26, 2013
Garnet Angeconeb spoke to CBC's Daybreak about appearing before Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (Garnet's Journey)Paul Martin on Truth and Reconciliation Hearings6:20
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Documentary maker and residential school survivor Garnet Angeconeb spoke about his journey from silence to participating in a Canada-wide discussion
Angeconeb went before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada on Thursday and presented a copy of his documentary, which focuses on the reconciliation process.
He shared his experiences with CBC's Daybreak on Friday.
At one time, Angeconeb said he found it difficult to talk about his days at a residential school in northwestern Ontario.
"The pain was so raw, the pain was so deep," he said.
Now, Angeconeb says he is happy to see the public is having an open dialogue.
"The walls of silence have come down."
Paul Martin denounces Canadian 'black mark'
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin told CBC's Homerun that he admires the courage of the former school residents who have come forward to share publicly their personal histories, "who were for so long not able to do it" and who now see that "it's part of their [own] reconciliation."
Martin said the people appearing before the commission are bringing to light "a black mark of Canadian history."
"The government, for 150 years, used education as a means of assimiliation, as a means of essentially taking away aboriginal cultures from young children ... tried to break the bonds between children and their parents, in order to make sure that everyone else was cut out of the same copybook," Martin said.
He said it was important to look at "other areas of discrimination" and denounced what he said was "the underfunding of grade school and high school education" that's happening now on reserves.
Martin is one of the commission's honorary witnesses; he told CBC an honorary witness is an age-old aboriginal tradition.
He and others will be asked to "spread the message", said Martin, when the Truth and Reconciliation commission draws its conclusions.