Memorial site for survivors opened at C.J. residential school site in Kenora
Dedication to a better future at C.J.
Written by Mike Aiken on Wednesday, 14 August 2013
A special ceremony at the site of the old C.J. residential school dedicates a park to the memory of former students. Speakers also talked about the importance of moving forward together.
As former students gathered at the old C.J. residential school, elders had some strong messages for politicians of all stripes.
While the buildings at Round Lake are long gone, the memories from a dark period in history remain fresh for those forced to attend. Earlier today, a special park and memorial site were unveiled. During the dedication ceremony, Elder Steven Kejick of Shoal Lake called for a new spirit of cooperation.
"Speaking about the leadership and the governments, I would like to see them together. Start talking about a new beginning for our young generation," he said.
Speakers, who were residential school survivors, also talked about the need to move beyond the misery and towards a better future for their children.
In his address, Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield shared memories of his family's dairy, which are now the ruins on the other side of Round Lake from the school buildings.
"This was C.J. school. This is where the Indian kids went. It meant nothing to us, until many years later.
Michael was one of my best friends back then. Of course, we didn't understand this as what happened and what transpired over the years. This was C.J. School. This is where the Indian kids lived. They went to school with us at Valleyview. We were all kids. We played as kids. We were best friends. It meant nothing to us until you get older and you understand what happened here.
The mayor noted the adjacent property was his grandfather's old dairy farm. Back in 1929, Canfield said the farmland was stolen from his family, so it could be used for the residential school. The land was intended to be used, so that First Nation children could learn to make the transition from living off the land through hunting and fishing to a more agricultural lifestyle as farmers.
"So, when you look at the history and what transpired," he said. "None of us can change the past, but we can change the future."
He then referred to the Common Land, Common Ground process he started with Treaty 3 Grand Chief Leon Jourdain back in 2000. The initiative was meant to help calm tensions between their respective communities, following a pair of ugly murders in Kenora. However, it later expanded to include talks about creating a heritage site at Tunnel Island, sometimes referred to as the Common Ground site. Earlier this month, the mayor acknowledged talks to develop this site should be revived, as he hasn't been able to sit down with the current grand chief, Warren White, in order to discuss the issue.
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Elders share residential school legacy
Written by Mike Aiken on Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Residential school survivors Charles Copenace (middle) and Howard Copenace (right).
Elders encouraged a new beginning, as they shared memories from yesterday's ceremony at the former C.J. residential school in Kenora.
Elder Nancy Morrison shared the frustration of many former students, as she addressed the gathering at Round Lake. The elder has been asked to share her stories of abuse many times and in many forms over the years. However, she says the legacy of loneliness and emptiness haven't left her.
"That's why we have to work together. We are not getting any closer. We are not getting any reconciliation, because we are just being reminded of the things we went through at the residential school," she said.
Morrison lost her mother at a young age, so she was sent to St. Mary's in Rat Portage. Even though her brothers were at C.J., and her extended family were close by, she wasn't allowed to see them.
"So, why I am saying that is I grew up into that. I didn't love. I didn't love my family because they were strangers to me. They were just there. Although, I know they love me very much," she continued.
Her grandmother was part of the medeowin society, who practices the traditional ways. As a result, her grandmother fought against the Catholic teachings of the school. Morrison remembers telling a friend at school, about a sacred ceremony that was part of the medeowin tradition.
"She went and told on me. The next thing I know, the principal came and grabbed me and beat the heck out of me. Stripped me naked. I don't know how long I stayed in the dormitory to heal. I think this is when I started to feel like I didn't belong there. I wanted to get out of there," she said.
During her time at residential school, Morrison recalled being beaten severely many times, leaving deep scars.
The elder has other questions concerning family members.
"That has been bothering me all that time, especially when the issue of the residential school came up. I brought that up many times, over and over, where are my sisters. Where are they burried. Why am I not settling down. I'm always wondering. I'm always dreaming of two little girls," she said.
"I'm also very, very honoured to be able to tell what really is bothering me. It's hard. How many people? How many people are going through the same thing. Wondering where their children are after they were snatched from their families, and never seeing them again," she said.
Master of Ceremonies Charles Copenace
Elder Steven Kejick
Message from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Chief Ruben Cantin, representing Grand Council Treaty 3
Teaching Elder Peter Bush, representing the Presbyterian Church in Canada:
Elder Basil Green of Shoal Lake
Green Sisters
Terry Greene
Elder Nancy Morrison
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From CBC.ca
Church apologizes to Kenora residential school survivors
Cecilia Jeffrey school students were subjected to ear, nutritional experiments
CBC News - Aug 14, 2013
Apology to residential school survivors used in experiments2:10
The Presbyterian Church issued a specific apology on Wednesday to former students of a residential school in Kenora, Ont., where medical and nutritional experiments had taken place.
Former students of the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School attended a commemorative gathering on Wednesday at a memorial where the church-run, government-funded facility once stood.
Recently released documents reveal that aboriginal children who were sent to Cecilia Jeffrey were subjected to experimental treatments for ear infections, as well as nutritional and dental experiments that were recently highlighted by a food historian.
- Ear experiments done on kids at Kenora residential school
- Aboriginal nutritional experiments had Ottawa's approval
For some survivors, the latest revelations have compounded the pain they have long felt as a result of the residential school experience.
"We had thought that we'd somewhat come to peace with some issues, then there's ongoing revelations of other events happening," said Richard Green, a former student who organized Wednesday's commemorative event.
Former students at the ceremony shed tears as they received an apology from the Presbyterian Church. It did not conduct the experiments, but it operated the Cecilia Jeffrey school for a number of years.
"I want to acknowledge that at Cecilia Jeffrey, there was physical abuse and sexual abuse and emotional abuse. For that, I am profoundly and deeply sorry," said Peter Bush of the Presbyterian Church of Canada.
"We sinned, and I am sorry for that."
Bush said the church wants to reassert its apology to residential school survivors and reaffirm its commitment to reconciliation and healing.
Experiments date back to 1940s
In the 1940s and '50s, research on the effectiveness of vitamin supplements was carried out - with the federal government's knowledge - on malnourished aboriginal people, including children at Cecilia Jeffrey and five other residential schools across Canada.
According to the research by Canadian food historian Ian Mosby, subjects were kept on starvation-level diets and given or denied vitamins, minerals and certain foods.
A new memorial stands at the site of the former Cecilia Jeffrey residential school in Kenora, Ont. (Cameron MacIntosh/CBC)
Some dental services were also withheld because researchers thought healthier teeth and gums might skew the results, Mosby found.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt confirmed that nutritional experiments did take place in residential schools, calling them "abhorrent examples of the dark pages of the residential schools legacy."
Last week, a 1954 report obtained by CBC News found that a doctor and a school nurse experimented with 14 different drugs to treat "ear troubles" in children at the Kenora residential school.
The report from the Indian and Northern Health Services archive said some of the children who were treated became deaf.
According to the report, children were taught to irrigate their own ears, or the ears of younger children, with hot water.
A doctor visited the school on a weekly basis to look out for ear infections "and the recommended medicine was used when possible," the report stated.
No federal official in attendance
An official with the federal Aboriginal Affairs Department was invited to speak at the ceremony in Kenora, but no one from the government attended.
"It's very disappointing," Green said. "As far as yesterday, we received a call that somebody from Aboriginal Affairs will be in attendance."
The federal government has maintained that its apology in 2008 covers the residential school experience as a whole.
But Basil Green, another former student at Cecilia Jeffrey, said he was disappointed that the federal government did not provide a specific apology.
"They are answerable to the communities, they should've been here," he said.
Others, like Richard Green, say they want information on everything that was done to them while they were in the government's care.
"I think it's a moral, it's a legal obligation," he said.
The federal government has said it has released documents related to the experiments to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body tasked with documenting the residential schools experience.
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Ask the Religion Experts: How can Canada right the wrongs done to First Nation peoples?
OTTAWA CITIZEN AUGUST 16, 2013
BALPREET SINGH is legal counsel and acting executive director for the World Sikh Organization of Canada.
I don't think there is any way to completely right the wrongs that have been done; however, the first step must be recognizing the wrongs that were committed and their ongoing legacy and effects today.
For far too long, Canadians have been unaware of and indifferent to the story of Canada's First Nations peoples. Canada's First Nations communities saw their lands seized, their culture undermined and their identity suppressed.
The legacy of these historical abuses continues to linger with Aboriginal communities having lower life expectancy, inadequate housing and infrastructure, and far higher rates of addiction, violence and incarceration.
One of the most shocking abuses against Canada's First Nations was the Indian Residential School system. These federally funded schools stole children away from their families in order to assimilate them into the dominant culture or to "kill the Indian in the child."
It is absolutely essential that Canadians learn about and acknowledge the tragic history and treatment of First Nations in Canada. An important part of that process is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that is currently ongoing. Survivors are being given the opportunity to tell their stories.
Canada's Sikh community has a particular affinity and understanding of what the First Nations have gone through, having experienced severe human rights abuses in Punjab in the '80s and '90s. Like the First Nations, these abuses have still not been acknowledged nor those responsible brought to justice.
As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds its national event in British Columbia in September, the Sikh community and my organization will be actively participating, including the creation of a series of short videos talking about the abuse suffered by First Nations communities and how we relate as Canadian Sikhs.
It is only by learning about these tragic chapters in our history that we can ensure such incidents are never repeated in the future.
JACK MCLEAN is a Baha'i scholar, teacher, essayist and poet published in the fields of spirituality, Baha'i theology and poetry.
The Prime Minister's long overdue formal apology on behalf of the Canadian government on June 11, 2008 was surely a step in the right direction. But systematic, effective, long-range solutions are required. Righting the wrongs could possibly include the following:
(1) Consultation rather than conflict holds the key to breaking the deadlock. Patient, harmonious and cordial consultation between First Nations leaders and the federal government should begin in earnest.
This type of consultation will lead to genuine results rather than the disappointing showcased, hastily arranged conferences that satisfy momentary media hunger. The "them against us" political power struggle mentality and angry rhetoric have proven to be defective and self-defeating.
(2) Aboriginals must have their fair share of natural resources found on their lands or in their waters. This equitable sharing will allow some reserves and communities to benefit from a resource based economy.
(3) First Nations students should receive the necessary training and education in the trades and professions that will allow them to manage their own affairs and to meet ongoing infrastructure needs.
(4) Canadian history textbooks should be rewritten to make all students aware of the sorry treatment that was meted out to First Nations peoples, particularly by the cultural assimilation policy that motivated the Indian Act and the Residential Schools system. Curricula should sensitize students to native spirituality.
(5) The Indian Act of 1876, which has been reformed by numerous and generally progressive amendments since its enactment, was based on a policy of assimilation and control. It should be abolished and replaced by a bill of constitutionally protected rights and freedoms that incorporate its amendments. A new framework needs to be adopted.
(6) Pouring massive amounts of federal money into the band councils has not produced the expected results. Although federal funding should continue, taxpayers have the right to know that their money is being spent wisely and honestly.
Close supervision of the spending of any federal money is appropriate, but economic self-sufficiency, not welfare, should remain the goal.
Rev. KEVIN FLYNN is an Anglican priest and director of the Anglican studies program at Saint Paul University.
We cannot right wrongs without knowing and naming those wrongs as fully as possible.
Between roughly 1820 and 1969, Anglicans administered some two dozen residential schools for aboriginal people. Canadian governments saw the schools as a means of controlling and ultimately assimilating aboriginal people.
Since the late 1980s, many residential school survivors have told of their experience of the impact of their loss of language and culture, as well as instances of physical and sexual abuse.
On Aug. 6, 1993, Archbishop Michael Peers, then Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, issued an apology for the Church's participation in the system. He said in part, "I am sorry .... that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family. I am sorry, more than I can say, that we tried to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity. .... I know how often you have heard words which have been empty because they have not been accompanied by actions. I pledge to you my best efforts, and the efforts of our church at the national level, to walk with you along the path of God's healing."
The Anglican Church set up an Indigenous Healing Fund to support local work toward healing. Churches and the federal government reached a settlement in which the churches would provide satisfactory compensation to survivors. The settlement led to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and research centre.
Aboriginal Anglicans today are an important and vigorous part of the Church's life. We have a national aboriginal bishop, as well as diocesan bishops of First Nations or Inuit ancestry.
This is but one part of the Canadian story, but it is one that shows that truth and reconciliation are costly but possible.
Rev. RAY INNEN PARCHELO is a novice Tendai priest and founder of Red Maple Sangha, the first lay Buddhist community in Eastern Ontario.
Pope John Paul II said: "A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members." Even today we see revelations about nutritional experiments on aboriginal children while the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are impeded by lack of access to official documents.
It will be hard to determine an appropriate response, let alone suggest corrective action, when we have not even understood the extent of historical wrong; reconciliation needs to be preceded by truth.
What we have is racial discrimination and violations of rights by successive governments and trusted institutions on a massive scale. Our responses will reflect differences in processes. Truth and reconciliation is only a moral realignment which does not require "righting wrongs" in the judicial sense. Therefore, concepts of remedy, in legal terms, or compensation in financial terms must be included, parallel to this shattered trust.
When addressing events that span such long time and involve so many, we would be naive to expect that the causes or environments that produced those wrongs have disappeared. Justice will take many forms and must penetrate deep into our official structures and attitudes.
Within institutions, but also in our own attitudes, we are well-advised to examine how we may be setting the stage for future wrongs. At the government level we must begin by demanding a commitment to real self-determination for aboriginal peoples, ending the patronizing attitudes and structures that fostered past wrongs. This takes us beyond mere bureaucratic management into serious nation building and this is where we need to be going.
At the personal and private level, we need to be examining our own views of aboriginal peoples to see how our belief of what constitutes a Canadian and our vision for Canada may still be blind to the situation of First Nations peoples.
Rabbi REUVEN BULKA, head of Congregation Machzekei Hadas in Ottawa, hosts Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka on 580 CFRA.
Canada cannot right the wrongs. The only way to right the wrongs is to go back and undo the past. That is impossible.
Many of the victims are long gone, forever removed from any apology, never mind righting a wrong. And the repercussions of the abuse are still with the First Nation peoples.
The rates of poverty and unemployment are intolerable, as are the rates of crime and addiction. To set things right is beyond herculean.
But this does not mean we should do nothing. It means that we need to sharpen the focus on what is a realistic yet optimal approach. It is done with the realization that with all the goodwill and maximum effort, we will never right the wrongs. But we can hopefully secure for the First Nations a future that holds great promise.
A promising future starts with education. Assuring that every First Nation child has access to education, free education going as far up the education ladder as is possible, would seem to be a good first step.
As to those for whom education at this stage is not realistic, job training, combined with the guarantee of a good job, might be the best alternative.
Encouraging and enabling investment in the resources of the First Nations and giving them the dignity of putting their own resources to good use would also be of immense value.
There is a limit to what government can do, and there are matters pertaining to your question that go beyond government. They have to do with us.
We all can do more to integrate the First Nations into the nation's fabric, on a personal and local level. Representative events should integrate First Nations, and not as a mere tokenism. Going out of our way to befriend someone from the First Nations is also vital.
We may not be able to right the wrongs, but we all can certainly do what is right.
Rev. GEOFF KERSLAKE is a priest of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Ottawa.
There are ongoing efforts to help the Inuit, Métis and First Nations peoples of Canada through government programs aimed, for example, at increasing access to education and at improving living conditions in communities that have had varying levels of success. In addition, numerous agencies, churches, and other groups have projects supporting local populations and providing more personal attention in smaller projects.
To continue to move forward we need to encourage genuine dialogue that hears and respects everyone's experiences and that fosters cooperation in finding solutions to the current problems. In the 1995 brief to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Canadian Catholic Bishops' Conference presented to the Commission that despite struggles: "the Church has walked with Aboriginal Peoples, shared their joys, their sufferings, and their aspirations, and supported their struggles for recognition of their rights for personal and collective growth. Then and now, the Churches provide a place where Native and non-Native Peoples may find common ground. Non-Native Church members have accompanied Native Peoples on their journey - sometimes leading, sometimes following, sometimes side-by-side."
As a society, we cannot today undo the wrongs done in the past and while we must acknowledge the wrongs done we also need to remember the positive developments both in the past and the present. It is difficult to have a single solution to the complex problems facing indigenous peoples but an indispensable component is respectful dialogue and cooperation between all the parties involved. Improvements cannot be made without everyone's input and engagement.
ABDUL RASHID is a member of the Ottawa Muslim community, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Capital Region Interfaith Council.
There seems to be a general acceptance of the wrongs done to First Nation peoples among Canadians. The impact of these wrongs is many dimensional, which are both evident and well-documented.
For example, one of the major problems from which the First Nation peoples suffer is widespread and persistent poverty. This and other problems which they have continued to endure over a very long time will not be resolved by a simple acknowledgment.
More important, these problems will persist as long as we consider them "their", the First Nation peoples' problem and not "Canadian".
This acceptance of the responsibility must encompass the people of Canada including, of course, the First National peoples, the political parties in the country and the various levels of government. The subject should be discussed among different population groups and it should form permanent part of the platforms of different political parties.
People should demand from their elected representatives to discuss this issue in a non-partisan way in the provincial legislatures and the federal parliament. The resolutions adopted should allocate, in addition to other practical measures, a specified annual percentage (one or two per cent) of national income. Annual progress reports should be published.
It should be recognized that the wrongs were done a long time ago and the consequent problems have been festering during the subsequent years. Therefore, the solution will not occur overnight, but will take honest and persistent efforts for the foreseeable future.
Rev. JOHN COUNSELL is discipleship pastor at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Ottawa. He is also host of Late Night Counsell weeknights on AM580/CFRA Ottawa.
My opinions concerning First Nation Peoples (FNP) are profoundly affected by my eight years pastoring in Western Manitoba.
At any given time, my Sunday morning crowd of 400 was comprised of at least 80 to 100 FNPs. Our connection to the reserves in the area was strong. Our congregation's FNPs were such a delight. However, when we'd have our inevitable discussions regarding solutions to political issues, their statements shocked me.
The toughest lines of thinking I've ever heard expressed came from my native friends in Manitoba. What was shocking was that they were not the typical politically correct solutions that we constantly hear bandied about here in Ottawa.
Their vitriol was two-fold. First and foremost, against their tribes, who they saw as taking advantage of white guilt and refusing to accept any responsibility for their sad social state. Secondly they were cynical, having zero confidence with white-led governments who never took the time to really understand them. hey would tell me in their own words; "throwing truckloads of money at us makes for good headlines, but it never gets to the root of our struggles."
These are not typical FNP opinions. These are the opinions of FNP who would identify themselves chiefly as Bible-believing Christians. In other words, they considered themselves "followers of Christ," even more than FNPs.
Unanimously they confessed their convictions concerning the need for personal responsibility were the result of the spiritual transformation that took place when they embraced a life of truly following Christ. Not just being a "Christian," but passionately patterning their life after Him. If I had a dollar for every FNP that said to me "the only hope for natives in Canada is Christ," you and I could enjoy a wonderful night on the town together.