Indian Residential School's Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners resign for fresh start of work
Joint Statement of Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Morley
We announce today with sadness our intention to resign as Commissioners of the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission, effective June 1, 2009.
It was a great honour to have been chosen as Commissioners. We took on the challenge because we believed that our respective skills and experiences would contribute to the success of a process of enormous importance to survivors of the Indian Residential Schools, to Aboriginal peoples generally and to Canada as a whole.
We have, however, concluded that the best way forward for a successful Truth and Reconciliation Commission process is with a new slate of Commissioners.
As Commissioners, we’ve had to face many challenges over the past six months. Nonetheless, we will remember and cherish this exceptional experience for the rest of our lives. We personally regret that we will not be continuing as Commissioners for the full five-year mandate. However we have become convinced that the time has come for us to step aside and let others take on this demanding but rewarding mission.
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is not the first such process to have a troubled start. Challenges such as we have faced are not uncommon and have been experienced by many other, if not all, Truth and Reconciliation processes around the world. Rather than seeing what has happened in the initial stage of our Commission as a reason to doubt its long-term success, we believe it should be seen as an opportunity to learn from the difficulties encountered in order to build a stronger process for the future.
Although we disagree with the stated perceptions of Mr. Justice Harry LaForme when he resigned as Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we believe that revisiting the statements he made at the time of his resignation would not be of any benefit to the Truth and Reconciliation process, to which we remain profoundly committed. We are content in the knowledge that at all times we have carried out our duties as Commissioners with diligence and integrity. In addition, we want it to be known that, regardless of any differences that might have existed between Mr. Justice LaForme and ourselves, there was never in our view any difference in the importance we all attached to reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
What is important now is for everyone involved to focus on the task of getting the Truth and Reconciliation process back on track without further delay.
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is unique because it is the first to take place in a developed country and the first to focus on the abuses of children by the state and other entities over a 100-year period.
It is imperative that this process succeed - for the survivors, for their families and communities, and for all Canadians.
Fortunately, the process has strength beyond individual Commissioners. We know this because we have experienced the power generated by survivors and others in telling their stories of their Indian Residential school experiences. We have seen the capacity of this truth-telling to engage non-Aboriginal Canadians. We believe that this engagement will, over time, transform relationships that have been fundamentally damaged by the consequences of a government policy put in place to “kill the Indian in the child”.
As we begin the transfer of our responsibilities to new Commissioners, we offer whatever assistance we can give them, both during the transition period and over the next five years of the Commission’s mandate. We also wish them great success as they move forward on this extraordinary endeavour to hear the truths of those who experienced the Indian Residential Schools and, through the hearing and recording of those truths, to bring about reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
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Two remaining Truth and Reconciliation commissioners resign
BILL CURRY - January 30, 2009
The two remaining commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced their resignation today, adding a further blow to the federally-created panel aimed at exposing Canada's Indian residential schools history.
Commissioners Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Morley issued a joint statement today, announcing they are resigning as of June 1, 2009.
“It was a great honour to have been chosen as Commissioners. We took on the challenge because we believed that our respective skills and experiences would contribute to the success of a process of enormous importance to survivors of the Indian Residential Schools, to Aboriginal peoples generally and to Canada as a whole,” the statement reads.
“We have, however, concluded that the best way forward for a successful Truth and Reconciliation Commission process is with a new slate of Commissioners. As Commissioners, we've had to face many challenges over the past six months.
Nonetheless, we will remember and cherish this exceptional experience for the rest of our lives. We personally regret that we will not be continuing as Commissioners for the full five-year mandate. However we have become convinced that the time has come for us to step aside and let others take on this demanding but rewarding mission.”
Michael Cachagee of the National Residential Schools Survivors Society said the resignation of the commissioners was the only way to clear the air after last year's resignation of Justice Harry LaForme, who was in charge of the Commission. Mr. LaForme said he could not continue in a situation where the two other commissioners could and would overrule him on the direction of the commission.
“Since the resignation of Justice LaForme we viewed the whole TRC process as being tainted and that the only way in which it could be cleansed in a sense and with a renewed approach for survivor participation would be to have the other commissioners to resign and begin fresh,” said Mr. Cachagee.
The Assembly of First Nations said the decision was made with the support of all involved in the Indian Residential Schools out of court settlement, which led to the creation of the five-year commission.