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Open letter on resignation of Justice Harry Laforme from Truth and Reconcilitation Commission

Kahnawake - November 4, 2008

Shé:kon All My Relations;

I would like to address the issue of the resignation of the former chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Justice Harry LaForme. The current public debates and discussions regarding Justice LaForme’s resignation undermine the work of the two commissioners who remain, but more importantly the work of the TRC itself.

It is unfortunate that Justice LaForme chose a public forum to air his perspective but rather than take sides, the healthy approach would be to respect his decision and move on with more important matters such as his replacement. Perhaps Mr. LaForme’s public disclosure of his dissatisfaction within the Commission is an indication that he lacked the leadership skills necessary to deal with the protocol and process needed to resolve issues of conflict.

The two remaining commissioners, Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Morley should be given the support and respect needed to continue the important work that they have begun with communities and survivors as much work still remains to be done in their 5-year mandate.

It is disturbing to hear some of the public discussions taking place particularly the condemnations of the two remaining commissioners. It is suspect at best that certain individuals making these public condemnations are taking the opportunity to promote themselves as being the next to replace Justice LaForme. Such selfpromoters claim to have the best interest of the Residential Schools survivors at heart but through the public denouncement of the commissioners they too fail to recognize the truth involved in this story and the need to provide the two remaining commissioners a process to reconcile their side of the story.

Aboriginal peoples have inherited a legacy of oppression that must stop within this next generation. The public condemnation of the commissioners indicates that this will not stop any time soon. We as Aboriginal peoples are sometimes our own worst enemies.

The next chairperson of the TRC should be an individual whose knowledge and values are grounded in traditional Indigenous cultures. It must be a person who is searching for the truth in the history of the Residential School experience. Most importantly, it must be a person who is honest, compassionate and not a selfpromoter.

With the enormous amount of work to be done by the TRC, starting all over again will not only set back the existing work of the Commission but may pave the way for future dysfunction and further mistrust of the process. For the sake of all the Residential School survivors and to those survivors who have passed on, we should all support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in hopes that current and future generations will know the true history of a genocide that took place against Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

Skén:nen – In Peace
Ellen Gabriel
President
 
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From CBC.ca

'Moral code' was behind resignation from schools commission: LaForme - Ontario justice gives emotional account of his reasons for quitting

November 13, 2008

Justice Harry LaForme broke his silence on Thursday over his sudden resignation last month from the commission into Indian Residential School abuse, saying his "moral code" gave him no choice but to leave after his authority was undermined.

LaForme, who is aboriginal, resigned as the chairman of the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Oct. 20 in a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, less than six months into his mandate.

The Ontario Court of Appeal judge has not granted any interviews since his resignation, but he spoke about the decision for the first time in a speech that was part of a series of ethics lectures in Toronto's Ryerson University.

In his resignation letter, LaForme said the commission was on the verge of paralysis and doomed to failure. He cited an "incurable problem" with the other two commissioners, Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Brewin Morley, who he said refused to accept his authority as chair and were disrespectful.

Speaking Thursday, LaForme said:

"I could not abdicate or surrender my dreams and visions about the truth and reconciliation commission to the two others — indeed, to two others who are relative strangers to me and to the historical and complex relationship that exists between aboriginal people and other peoples of Canada."

LaForme outlined how he and the two commissioners were given a framework for the commission that detailed their mandates.

"Assurances were given to me that it would be me and my vision that would chart, lead and direct the course of this very important and much-needed commission," he said.

"Thus, everyone knew, or certainly ought to have known, what the respective roles were to be."

Other commissioners disagreed
Laforme said that within months, however, that understanding changed. The two other commissioners felt that Laforme should not be above them and that all three should have equal authority. Laforme said Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, also shared that view.

"Indeed, the two commissioners believed this with such sincerity that they retained a lawyer, who, in turn, presumably on their instructions, wanted me to execute a document that acknowledged my agreement with their position," he said. "My moral code dictated that I could not agree."

His voice often breaking, LaForme then spent the next half hour describing his moral code. He talked about tough times as a youngster on an Ontario reserve, overcoming violence and his father's alcoholism.

LaForme went on to complete an engineering degree and finish law school. He was appointed to the bench in 1994, but even there, he said, he faced racism and allegations that his was a token appointment.

"My moral code includes that I must be always mindful of what it means to be marginalized and ignored, to have despair and no hope," he said.

"I must remember how deafening the forced silence by another on another can be."

He left the stage with tears in his eyes and was embraced by his wife, who was crying.

The two other commissioners have said they disagreed with LaForme's reasoning.

Dumont-Smith said there was no friction and she had a good working relationship with LaForme.

"It is unfortunate that we had not met as a commission since Aug. 26," Dumont-Smith said in a statement on Oct. 21. "Had we met more often, I am sure that we could have worked through any issues we were facing."

Morley said any disagreements could have been overcome if LaForme had been willing to sit down and talk with them, but he insisted after late August on dealing with them through intermediaries.