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From the Anglican Journal

Truth commission will help heal residential schools legacy, church and native leaders say

Solange De Santis, staff writer, Mar 6, 2008

In a soaring glass hall at the Museum of Anthropology, under the watchful eyes of a dozen huge totem poles, church, native and government leaders on March 5 pledged that the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission will lead to healing as it hears the painful stories of Indian residential schools in Canada.

The event, which included a walk to the museum led by native drummers, was part of a four-city tour by the leaders that was called Remembering the Children and was designed to draw attention to the commission and its work.  

Established as part of a settlement agreement that limited liability for churches and distributed compensation to former residential school students, the commission in its five-year mandate will hear stories of former students and use church and government archives to create an extensive historical record of the school system. The date of the commencement of the commission’s work and its composition has yet to be announced by the federal government.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the Anglican primate (national archbishop), reiterated the church’s 1993 apology for its role in the system, which operated across Canada from the mid-nineteenth century into the 1970s.

“I represent a church that was complicit in a system that took children far from home and family, took their clothing, cut off their hair and punished them when they spoke their own language. Some of our staff abused children. The Anglican church has so much for which to be so sorry,” he said.

Gloria Moses, co-chair of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples who attended St. George’s residential school in British Columbia from 1949 to 1959, said in an interview before the event that she had mixed emotions about her experience in the school and about the commission.

“I got a good education, but the discipline was so difficult – slapping, strapping – and I was so lonely” after being taken from her family, she said. About the commission, she said she had hoped that “once the settlement was over and done with, we could dig a big hole and bury (the residential school legacy). But every now and then I feel that pain and anger, so it might be good to talk about it.”

Another former student, Alvin Dixon, a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation, told the audience of about 200 that the commission is “an important step in moving away from that painful past.” Chief Robert Joseph of the Gwa wa enuk First Nation said “somewhere in the telling of all of our stories, the truth will emerge and we will be seeking a kind of freedom we’ve never known before as aboriginal people.”

The commission’s interim executive director, Bob Watts, said it is a “journey of great promise,” but noted that “there are many, many truths” about residential school experiences and “reconciliation will happen at many levels.”

In Ottawa, at the start of the tour, about 500 people at the Canadian Museum of Civilization heard Phil Fontaine, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations called the commission’s work, “one of the most remarkable journeys that this country has ever taken.”

It will provide “an opportunity to expose lies that we were forced to live with for far too long,” he said, drawing applause from the larger-than expected crowd. It will be an opportunity to “shine a light on Canada’s darkest chapter and expose not just to Canada but to the world what was done to a people that didn’t deserve it,” he said.

“The Truth and Reconciliation process is an opportunity for us to hear the truth about and begin to break the enduring chains created by Indian Residential Schools,” said David Giuliano, moderator (national leader) of the United Church of Canada. The United Church largely hosted the celebratory event, which included aboriginal singers, dancers, throat singers and drummers as well as a group of Christian ecumenical dancers.

The moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Rev. J.H. Kouwenberg, said the church leaders “want to communicate the historic importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as it seeks to give a voice to residential school survivors and their families.”

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From the BC Christian News ... l

Residential school reconciliation a priority

AFTER years of acrimony and painful revelations involving  the church-run Native residential schools, some form of resolution may finally be at hand.

Sacred Walk is the blanket term for a series of events in early March, to be held in various Canadian cities. The tour is aimed at introducing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which will explore the history of Canada’s residential schools.

The ‘walk’ will consist of both symbolic  and educational events, involving participants from the Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches, and members of the Assembly of First Nations  (AFN).

A ceremonial walk will take place March 5, beginning at the Vancouver School of Theology and ending at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

In preparation for the Commission, seven Catholic bishops met for the first time with the head of the AFN  January 29. Sylvain Lavoie, Archbishop for Keewatin-The Pas, said he hopes the TRC hearings will be “balanced.” He elaborated, saying  the hearings should include not only the experiences of aboriginal victims of abuse, but also the stories of the religious sisters, brothers and priests who gave their lives to working in the schools.

“There was a lot of good intentions,” Lavoie told a news conference following the meeting. “Sometimes the very people staffing the schools were perhaps in some ways victims themselves of a flawed system, of unreal expectations and certainly perhaps very unjust working hours.”

Lavoie added: “I think we’ll be able to tell the full story, which I think Canada needs to hear.”

AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine said he recognized thousands of Catholic congregation members worked in the schools “in what they sincerely believed to be in the best interest of Indian Residential School students.”

However, he cautioned, “it is important for these religious communities to both openly acknowledge their role in Indian Residential Schools and to hear directly from First Nations regarding their experiences. The assistance and participation of the Catholic organizations are integral in the healing and reconciliation process.”

“Certainly, mistakes were made and we’re open to acknowledging that and being responsible but, most of all, we’re hoping the story is . . . balanced,” Lavoie said.

The TRC, part of the $2.2 billion Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, will begin hearing testimony this year from victims of sexual and physical abuse at schools run by various religious denominations and more than 40 Catholic entities – dioceses and religious orders.

This is not the first time a bishop has talked publicly about participation in the TRC. Last October, Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber, who was then president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), told Canadian Catholic News the bishops “want to be very positively involved.”

The TRC will begin hearings once a chair and two commissioners are selected by  Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl and the AFN national chief. The TRC received about 300 suggested names for these roles.

The settlement agreement includes a government compensation package for every student who attended the schools.

The 40-plus Catholic dioceses and religious orders that ran residential schools are responsible for $80 million dollars towards healing and reconciliation. That figure includes cash settlements and in-kind services.

The Catholic entities have not been part of the overall compensation for mere attendance at the schools. Some have argued the schools were a form a “cultural genocide” because they separated students from their families, communities and their languages.

Almost two years ago, after the settlement was announced, Weisgerber, speaking on his own behalf and not as archbishop, said the prevailing narrative that residential schools were entirely responsible for the plight of Canada’s native people needed to be challenged. That narrative also suggests children were routinely sexually and physically abused.