Vancouver prepares to welcome the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation gathering
It's time for truth and reconciliation
Opinion: Canadians often fail to reflect on the consequences of the residential school system
BY DAVID TINDALL, SPECIAL TO THE VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
Residential school survivor Flora Northwest wipes tears after speaking at the Truth and Reconciliation Regional Hearing in Hobbema, July 24, 2013. People shared their stories to the commission on the effect the schools had on their lives.
Photograph by: Ed Kaiser , Ed Kaiser
Imagine that you and your family have a nice house and property upon which you make a living. Then imagine that strangers descend upon you, occupy your house and your property, take away your means of making a living, abduct your children, and then ridicule you for your disadvantaged situation. This, in some ways, is a thumbnail sketch of the history of European-Aboriginal relations in Canada.
One sometimes hears that the struggles that many Aboriginals experience are a result of Colonialism. While this seems like an abstract term, a direct manifestation of colonialism was the residential school system in Canada. This week the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is holding a series of events in Vancouver that are open to the public. (UBC, under President Stephen Toope's leadership, has decided to close the university on Sept. 18, so that faculty and student can attend these events. A variety of other institutions are also observing these events in various ways.)
A couple of important objectives of the Truth and Reconciliation process are to allow survivors of the residential school system to tell their stories, and to inform the public about the tragic legacy of this episode in our history.
In his oficial apology of June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Harper had this to say: "Two primary objectives of the residential school system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, 'to kill the Indian in the child'. Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country."
The residential school system operated in Canada from 1875-1996. For much of this period, Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes, and in many cases transported to distant boarding schools. Many did not return to their families for years. Many never returned. The mortality rates in some schools at times were over 50 per cent at certain times.
A number of cities, like Vancouver, are comprised of numerous recent immigrants (and less recent immigrants) who often know very little of this history. Further, most adults of a certain age who were raised in Canada also know very little if any of this history. Personally, I went to secondary school in British Columbia the 1970s. Like many Canadians, I was not taught about the history and legacy of the residential school system in school.
In thinking about Aboriginal issues it is important to recognize diversity. There are a variety of Aboriginal cultures and languages in Canada. Similarly, there is substantial variation of experiences among Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and there are many great Aboriginal success stories in business, the legal profession, the arts, education, the natural resources sector, and elsewhere. And some Aboriginals had positive experiences in residential school. Nevertheless, the legacy of the residential school system still casts a dark shadow across Canada - and it is a shadow that many Canadians fail to recognize.
In the aggregate, as social scientists have documented, people of Aboriginal descent fair very poorly relative to other ethnic/racial groups in Canada. The specific statistics are staggering, and involve indicators such as: infant mortality, life expectancy, rate of suicide, school dropout, rate of substance abuse, low-income, unemployment, incarceration in prison, as well as many other things.
However, for many Canadians there is a blame-the-victim mentality about these facts. Aboriginal are blamed for being victims of these various social maladies. Average Canadians often fail to reflect on the consequences of the residential school system, and to connect the dots.
In some instances, seven generations of Aboriginals were subject to the residential school system. Many suffered physical and psychological abuse. Some suffered sexual abuse. Most were punished for speaking their native language, and ridiculed for their traditional culture and beliefs. This had an enormous negative effect on the self-esteem of many Aboriginals. Many who were abused passed on the abuse to their children. For many, substance abuse resulted from these experiences. In many families, parenting skills vanished, as children were raised by parents who themselves had not been raised by their own parents and had suffered abuse, and in many cases also succumbed to substance abuse.
As Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has said, this situation was created over many generations, and it will take at least a few generations to be able to say we are making progress.
In places like British Columbia a number of contemporary processes are linked to the legacy of the residential school system, and efforts to move forward. Aboriginal communities have taken control of education in many communities in an effort to provide education in a supportive and culturally sensitive context. In many Aboriginal communities there is still a capacity problem because of the aftermath of the residential school system. For example, in some sectors, such as the natural resource industry sector, it is sometimes a struggle to meet the demand for people with sufficient training in particular technical and professional disciplines. This can be a problem for things like planning processes, and economic development projects.
Of course, the residential school system is only part of the puzzle. While many British Columbia are unaware of this, in British Columbia, Aboriginal peoples were never conquered through wars, nor (in most areas) was the land given up by Natives through treaties. It was just declared Terra Nullius (empty lands - or lands without owners) by Europeans and subsequently settled upon by them.
For many decades Aboriginals persistently claimed the lands of British Columbia as their own. The governments of B.C. and Canada systematically took power away from Aboriginal peoples, in an effort to negate these claims, and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples. For example, in 1872, the right to vote in B.C. elections was withdrawn from Indians. In 1884, parliament outlawed the potlatch, the major social, economic, and political institution of the coastal peoples. In 1927, the federal parliament amended the Indian Act to outlaw receipt of money by any person (including Indians) from any Indian for any claim-related activity. In other words, Indians could not hire lawyers or other related personnel in an effort to get their claims before the court.
This effectively made it illegal for Indians to pursue lands claims. For many decades both the province and the federal government denied that Aboriginals had any rights or title.
Finally, in the 1990s, the British Columbia Treaty Process began.
Despite resistance from some political quarters, support has grown for the treaty process across the political spectrum. (Former Premier Bill Van der Zalm played an important role in getting the process initiated.
Former Premier Gordon Campbell had a remarkable political transformation on this issue. It might also be noted, that former Premier Michael Harcourt was a strong supporter of the treaty process, and later became a B.C. Treaty Commissioner.) Not all First Nations support the process, and there are a number of problems with it.
A final irony related to the residential school system is worth noting.
While the residential school system has overwhelmingly had a negative impact on Aboriginal people, it did bring together Aboriginals from different cultural and language groups. A consequence of this, is that Aboriginals who previously had relatively separate cultures, identities, and languages, learned a common language, developed (to some extent) a Pan-Indian identity, and develoed social network ties across communities and Nations. In the long run, this new network served as a basis to mobilize for Aboriginal rights and title across B.C. and Canada, and led to the formation of a variety of broader Aboriginal organizations serving the interests of diverse groups.
Today, it is time to talk about some of the truths that have led to current social conditions for Aboriginal peoples in British Columbia and Canada.
David Tindall is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. After he became an adult, he learned that an ancestral branch of his family was Cree.
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Healing the hurts of residential schools in Chilliwack
Isadore Charters, member of Soowahlie First Nations in Chilliwack, has spent 10 months carving a seven-foot healing pole to help reconcile years of suffering and shame caused by his time in residential school. His pole will be on display at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission being held this week at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver.Jenna Hauck/Progress
By Katie Bartel - Chilliwack Progress -September 16, 2013
For 10 months Isadore Charters has been chipping away at the pains of his history.
He's not the only one.
When Charters started carving his healing pole last fall, he didn't want it to be exclusive of his hands. And so, he took his 7-foot, yellow cedar wood pole to schools, churches, and other such community facilities around the Lower Mainland. In front of audiences, young and old, he told his story as he carved a face here, a paw there.
He invited those listening to join him in the carving journey.
"We carved together to help build a reconciliation together," said Charters, member of Soowahlie First Nations.
"Hundreds of people have helped me chip away and nurture healing."
The pole, now near completion, will be on display at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Vancouver from Sept. 18 to 21.
The TRC is leading a movement intended to uncover the truths of residential schools, and shape healing and reconciliation for survivors.
Charters, 65, is sharing his story.
"My story is about setting history straight," he said. "It's about bringing Yummo home."
When Charters was six years old, he was corralled into the back of an old farm truck with several other children from the community. Confused and crying, he watched his parents frantically waving as the truck pulled away, transporting him 50 miles from his home to a residential school in Kamloops.
There, he was separated from his siblings, was given an identification number, new clothes, and his hair was cut into a "G.I. Joe" buzz cut.
And the only name he knew - Yummo - was taken from him.
"My kid name was never spoken again," said Charters. "They took my identity away, my language, my traditions, my cultures."
They took his dignity too.
Charters was molested at the hands of school officials.
He went from a cheerful, happy go-lucky child, to an introvert who picked fights with his peers. He started drinking at the age of 11 and continued for three decades.
"I was lonely, I was angry, I was drawing really horrible pictures with knives, blood, gore, snakes coming out of mouths, mayhem," said Charters. "I was expressing my hurts."
It wasn't until Charters started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings that he began to toil with the idea of healing.
He hopes his pole will complete that journey.
The pole, carved from yellow cedar wood that's more than 200 years old, has the head of a black bear cub at the top, signifying the "Creator's" presence, and a star carved into the neck indicating the bear is a brother who's come to protect them.
Inside the ears of the bear is a girl and a boy to show pureness and innocence. There's a nun carved inside one paw, in memory of the sister he trusted, and the other paw a raccoon with a black mask to signify Zorro.
"When I was a little boy there were no folklore heroes for us to latch on to until Zorro came along" said Charters. "He never hurt our people."
Below the bear is a mother figure wrapped in a blanket representing a nurturing force. Coincidentally, at 5'2, she is the same height Charters' own mother stood at.
"My mom was very nurturing," he said. "She taught us a lot about our culture."
Following Charters' presentation at TRC later this month, which will also feature a 28-minute documentary (www.outreach.ca/yummo), the healing pole will permanently reside at the location of his former residential school in Kamloops.
"It will end back where it started," said Charters.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver from Sept. 18-21. For more information, visit the website www.trc.ca.
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Women's group sends comfort to residential school survivors
'They say it's just like having a hug' Keith Anderson
Kay Mori and Berna Porter model a couple of the prayer shawls.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
A group of compassionate Kamloops women is hoping to lend comfort during emotional testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Vancouver this week.
The St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church group members have been knitting prayer shawls that will be brought to Vancouver and handed out to victims and families impacted by the residential school system.
Wendy Adams, Armstrong's Presbyterian Church minister, is picking up the 19 shawls and affixing each with a message before delivering them.
The women prayed for the receivers while knitting the shawls.
Kay Mori, St. Andrew's women's missionary co-ordinator, said they bring comfort to the bereaved.
"They say it's just like having a hug," said Mori.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada has been involved in the truth and reconciliation movement since 1994 after confessing its role in the tragic legacy of Indian residential schools.
"The church is committed to walking with Aboriginal people on a journey toward reconciliation, and living out the spirit of the confession," states the Presbyterian Church in Canada website.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established as a result of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement - a class action agreement involving the Government of Canada, former students, churches, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal groups.
The commission's mandate is to provide a platform for stories from residential school survivors who, for the 150 years the system was in place, were forcibly removed from their homes and often neglected and abused.
The commission was in Kamloops for two days last May as part of a lead-up to this week's national hearing in Vancouver.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was operated by the Oblate Missionaries, a Roman Catholic order, from 1893 to 1977.
There have been allegations of sexual, physical and mental abuse of students who attended, and commission researchers have determined that at least 36 students died in early years.
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School district sends staff to hearings
School District 73 is sending four staff members to Thursday's national hearing in Vancouver of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The district principal and district co-ordinator of aboriginal education will attend the events as well as two teachers nominated by the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Association.
Terry Sullivan, district superintendent, said staff would prepare a follow-up report with the aim of reducing gaps in education between aboriginal and non-aboriginal learners.
He said the district has long been a leader in working to close that gap.
"We were one of the first districts in the province to have an aboriginal enhancement agreement," he said.
B.C. Teachers Federation has earmarked $100,000 in grants to help teachers participate in the events. More than 4,200 students and 200 teachers and support staff are expected to participate Thursday in what the commission has labelled Education Day. UBC is suspending classes so its students can attend.
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Survivor, reverend to row it out together
Nisga'a man credits Iranian-born friend with helping to turn his life around
BY LORI CULBERT, VANCOUVER SUN SEPTEMBER 17, 2013
When Alex Watts' traditional native canoe floats down False Creek today to kick off Reconciliation Week, the dozen paddlers will include members of his Nisga'a wolf clan, as well as one special guest - an Iranian outreach worker.
Watts, a residential school survivor who fell on very hard times for 25 years, credits Union Gospel Mission outreach worker Rev. Fari Ghaem-Maghami for helping him get sober five years ago.
So, when Watts was asked to lead a Nisga'a boat for the All-Nations Canoe Gathering, he included Fari Ghaem-Maghami to signify his gratitude and the importance of different cultures working as one.
"I'm hoping that people can see that we can work together," said Watts, who suffered physical, sexual and verbal abuse at residential schools in Port Alberni and Alert Bay.
"I have learned to forgive. I'm not full of hate anymore."
As many as 60 native and non-native boats will paddle from Vanier Park to Science World, as part of events leading up to the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings starting Wednesday at the PNE.
Aboriginal people who were torn from their families and culture to be sent to churchrun residential schools can make presentations at the hearings, the sixth of seven national stops by the court-ordered commission.
When Watts, 52, speaks to the commission this week, he hopes non-aboriginal people will have a better understanding of what native children endured and why they were left so damaged.
Watts said he hated the world - white people, churches, the police - until he sobered up, and is grateful to Ghaem-Maghami for being the first person to sincerely say that he was loved.
"He was the first time I ever heard anyone say he loved me," said Watts, who volunteers helping other down-ontheir-luck Downtown Eastside residents. "Him and I, we have a special friendship."
Ghaem-Maghami was born a Muslim in Iran, but converted to Christianity in 2004 after moving to Canada. He said he is honoured to paddle in Watts' boat, to acknowledge past sins by churches and to stress that all nations should be treated equally and compassionately.
"What changed Alex's heart were the simple words that I said, 'Hey man, I love you,' " said Ghaem-Maghami. "That's what really touched him and started the healing within."
Today at Truth & Reconciliation
Event: All-Nations Canoe Gathering When: Today What: An estimated 60 boats will be paddled down False Creek, about 40 of them traditional cedar dugout canoes and the other 20 non-native boats such as kayaks and dragon boats.
Why: It's one of Vancouver's Reconciliation Week events, planned for before and after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings at the PNE this Wednesday through Saturday.
Who: Residential school survivors were invited to paddle in the canoes during this traditional native ceremony. However, some paddlers will be non-aboriginal to illustrate the goal of improved relations between cultures.
WHERE: 9 a.m.: Boats will gather at Vanier Park and then paddle down False Creek. 10 a.m.: Boats arrive at the end of False Creek, south of Science World. A traditional First Nations ceremony will welcome all nations to Coast Salish lands.
Speakers: Chief Robert Joseph, of the organizing group Reconciliation Canada; Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and John Rustad, B.C. minister of aboriginal relations.
History: A canoe gathering is a big part of First Nations culture, but is rarely witnessed in an urban setting.