tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/residential-schools-42796/articlesResidential schools – The Conversation2023-10-04T16:21:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149942023-10-04T16:21:04Z2023-10-04T16:21:04ZWhat Wab Kinew’s win in Manitoba reveals about the province’s political history<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/what-wab-kinews-win-in-manitoba-reveals-about-the-provinces-political-history" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Manitoba voters <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2269449283816">have elected the NDP’s Wab Kinew as premier</a>. His election is both a break with recent Manitoba political history and a continuation of the long history of Indigenous involvement in electoral politics in Manitoba.</p>
<p>Kinew <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ndp-wins-manitoba-election-as-wab-kinew-set-to-become-first-first/">is Manitoba’s first First Nations premier</a>, though not its first Indigenous leader. That mantle goes to Louis Riel if we consider the <a href="https://www.gov.mb.ca/inr/major-initiatives/pubs/laa%20essay%20eng.pdf">legislative assembly of Assiniboia</a> that named the Métis leader president in 1869 to be a legitimate precursor to the province of Manitoba.</p>
<p>A 2019 act that would have named <a href="https://web2.gov.mb.ca/bills/42-2/b206e.php">Riel Manitoba’s first premier</a> put the matter before the Manitoba legislature, but it never passed.</p>
<p>The title of first Indigenous premier might also go to <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/norquay_john_11E.html">John Norquay</a>, Manitoba’s elected premier from 1878 to 1887. An ally of the federal Conservative party from the mid-1870s onwards, Norquay was born in 1841 the Red River settlement. He spoke French, English, Cree, Annishinaabemowin and Bungee, a dialect associated with Manitoba’s Interlake region and its Métis history.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/the-honourable-john-norquay">new biography of Norquay</a>, historian Gerald Friesen portrays a thoughtful leader who was a loyal kinsman to his relations, and led hunting parties and negotiations with the federal government.</p>
<h2>Settler colonial order</h2>
<p>Since 1887, Manitoba has been presided over by non-Indigenous people. Apart from outgoing Conservative Premier Heather Stefanson, all of them have been men. </p>
<p>This tells us a great deal about the settler colonial order that unfolded in Manitoba in the wake of the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/manitoba-act">Manitoba Act</a> of 1870 (which included the qualification that <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/womens-suffrage-in-manitoba">women could not vote</a>), the dispersal and dispossession of Métis people, the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-act#:%7E:text=The%20Indian%20Act%20attempted%20to,identities%20through%20governance%20and%20culture.">Indian Act</a> of 1876, the development of a reserve system and the creation of a federal system of Indian residential schools in the middle of the 1880s.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-residential-schools-acts-of-genocide-deceit-and-control-by-church-and-state-162145">Indian Residential Schools: Acts of genocide, deceit and control by church and state</a>
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<p>Laws emerged in these years that barred Indigenous people from holding office or voting. They were in force for part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.</p>
<p>In 1886, Manitoba’s government disqualified <a href="http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter3.html#12">“Indians or persons of Indian blood receiving an annuity from the Crown”</a> from the right to vote or hold office. The vote was not restored to status Indians who received treaty annuities until 1952, some 36 years after <a href="https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/commemoration/cent/index-en.html">Manitoba became the first province to grant women the right to vote on the same terms as men</a>.</p>
<p>It was not until 1981 that Manitoba elected a First Nations member of the provincial legislature, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/elijah-harper">Elijah Harper</a>, in the northern riding of Rupertsland. </p>
<p>Indigenous people who were not excluded by law from voting or holding office — most notably Métis — often discovered that informal barriers, including violence, were an effective check on their participation in electoral politics.</p>
<h2>Change in Manitoba</h2>
<p>Kinew is Manitoba’s first First Nations premier. He is an Annishinaabeg, a citizen of Onigaming First Nation in the Treaty Three region of northwestern Ontario and the son of a residential school survivor.</p>
<p>This represents a significant change, but one that has been in the works for some time. The 2019 provincial election <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/billboards-racial-tension-2019-manitoba-election-1.5303684">returned the most racially diverse legislative assembly in the province’s history</a>, including seven Indigenous members, three Black members and the first openly non-binary member, <a href="https://www.yourmanitoba.ca/union_station">Uzoma Asagwara.</a></p>
<p>In government, Kinew will sit alongside seasoned and talented Indigenous legislators, most of them women. This includes <a href="https://www.yourmanitoba.ca/the_pas_kameesak">Amanda Lathlin</a> (The Pas), <a href="https://www.yourmanitoba.ca/point_douglas">Bernadette Smith</a> (Point Douglas) and <a href="https://www.yourmanitoba.ca/st_johns">Nahanni Fontaine.</a> </p>
<p>Fontaine has represented the Winnipeg riding of St. John’s since 2016, and most recently served as House leader, critic for families and spokesperson for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited People.</p>
<p>The election of Kinew’s NDP in 2023 represents a powerful rejection of the racial politics of recent Conservative governments led by Stefanson and her predecessor, Brian Pallister.</p>
<p>Annishinaabeg scholar and journalist <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2021/07/14/pallister-careens-toward-his-day-of-reckoning">Niigaan Sinclair</a> argues that Pallister’s views on Indigenous people, who make up about 20 per cent of the province’s population, marked the end of his political career in 2021. </p>
<p>The hope that Pallister’s replacement would offer a kinder and gentler version of conservative politics never materialized. </p>
<p>The Stefanson campaign’s decision to make a platform out of their refusal to support the <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/first-nations-pc-candidate-wont-cross-party-on-landfill-search/">search of the Prairie Green Landfill</a> for the remains of three First Nations women — Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman — became a symbol of her government’s callous disregard of Indigenous lives.</p>
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<h2>Timbits and hockey</h2>
<p>The 2023 election also represents a return to a social democratic politics familiar to Manitobans. </p>
<p>In a campaign managed by NDP veteran Brian Topp, Manitobans saw a genial, blue-suited Kinew offering Timbits and talking hockey. On the campaign trail, Kinew emphasized his party’s commitment to addressing a health-care system in shambles and distanced himself from calls to redirect resources away from the police and incarceration. </p>
<p>The campaign had little to say specifically about what might usually be defined as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-election-indigenous-issues-1.6983954">Indigenous issues</a>. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9955195/manitoba-gary-doer-wab-kinew/">When former NDP premier Gary Doer publicly endorsed Kinew</a>, it signalled a connection between this new government and the one that governed Manitoba from 1999 to 2016.</p>
<p>When Kinew took the microphone at the Orange Shirt Day Survivors Walk and Pow Wow in Winnipeg’s downtown hockey arena three days before the election, he was in an orange Blue Bombers shirt. Kinew urged Indigenous people to retain their languages and cultures and prove that the architects of residential schools failed.</p>
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<p>Kinew is not Manitoba’s first Indigenous premier, but he is the first since 1887. He is the first premier who identifies as Annishinaabeg, whose family history includes residential schools, and whose direct ancestors would have been banned from voting until mid-century. </p>
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<img alt="A black and white photo shows a man with a moustache sitting in a chair with his legs crossed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552076/original/file-20231004-29-c68of6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Manitoba Premier John Norquay, who was Indigenous, in the 1880s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(National Archives of Canada)</span></span>
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<p>Kinew’s election is both a break in history and a continuation of important elements of Manitoba’s past. This includes long and complicated histories of Indigenous people in electoral politics and of social democratic provincial governments that have faced serious challenges in addressing poverty and delivering health care.</p>
<p>The high-octane anti-Indigenous racism represented by the Conservative governments of Stefanson and Pallister appears to be no longer sustainable in Manitoba.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adele Perry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The election of Wab Kinew’s NDP in 2023 represents a powerful rejection of the racial politics of recent Conservative governments led by Heather Stefanson and her predecessor, Brian Pallister.Adele Perry, Director, Centre for Human Rights Research and Distinguished Professor, History and Women's and Gender Studies, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015232023-03-19T11:51:45Z2023-03-19T11:51:45ZWinnipeg proposes new Indigenous street names, but what’s behind claims they’re too hard to pronounce?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515910/original/file-20230316-26-5une0y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C4%2C781%2C353&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The City of Winnipeg has proposed roads named after Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin be renamed with Indigenous names.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Google Street view)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The City of Winnipeg’s Indigenous Relations Division <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bishop-grandin-name-change-proposal-1.6733464">recently submitted suggestions for new names</a> to replace a street and trail currently named after Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin. </p>
<p>The division has suggested that Bishop Grandin Boulevard be renamed Abinojii Mikanah, the Bishop Grandin Trail be renamed Awasisak Mēskanow and Grandin Street be renamed Taapweewin Way. The first two suggestions are Ojibwe and Cree phrases meaning “Children’s Road,” and are meant to represent residential school survivors and the efforts to find the children who never returned home. Taapweewin is the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/michif">Michif</a> word for truth. </p>
<p>Grandin was a Catholic priest and leading proponent of residential schools who <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bishop-grandin-boulevard-name-change-residential-schools-1.6048648">lobbied the federal government to fund their construction</a>.</p>
<p>Reaction to these new names has been mixed, as can be expected with any change. However, <a href="https://www.chrisd.ca/2023/03/06/bishop-grandin-boulevard-renaming-winnipeg-street/">the primary pushback seems to be that the new names are hard to pronounce</a>. </p>
<p>But what does it mean when we say a word is hard to pronounce?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Islands surrounded by water are seen in the foreground. Mountains are in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515708/original/file-20230316-28-mawpdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Replacing colonial-era names with Indigenous ones is not new to Canada. In 2010, British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands were renamed Haida Gwaii after the Haida Nation who live in the archipelago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Borrowing from other languages</h2>
<p>English borrows extensively from other languages, and has since at least 1066, when the <a href="https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=tenor">Norman Conquest of Britain resulted in massive borrowing of French words into English</a>. </p>
<p>When we borrow words, we necessarily change their pronunciation, either to adjust for sounds we don’t have in English, or to make them conform to English phonotactic rules, i.e. the rules governing the possible sequences of sounds in a language. </p>
<p>Different languages have different rules or <em>phonotactics</em>. For instance, in English we have certain three-consonant clusters like “str” (strike) or “spl” (split). However, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/ukrainian/D20ECF62B57E4162670BD938A4B8EA33">Ukrainian allows different consonant clusters</a> such as дзвін <em>dzvin</em> meaning “bell” or штраф — <em>shtraf</em> meaning “fine.” </p>
<p>None of the proposed new names <a href="https://www.winnipeg.ca/news/2023-03-06-city-winnipeg-forwards-recommendations-renaming-bishop-grandin-boulevard-bishop">Abinojii Mikanah, Awasisak Mēskanow or Taapweewin</a> have complex syllable structure. They can be broken down into easily pronounceable syllables [a-bi-no-jii mi-ka-nah], [a-wi-si-sak mē-ska-now], and [ta-pwee-win], so they are not hard to pronounce for phonotactic reasons. </p>
<p>Sometimes a borrowed word is hard to pronounce because the sounds of one language don’t exist in another. For example, none of the vowel sounds in the French word <em>entrepreneur</em> exist in English and the “r” sound is also different.</p>
<p>English just does its best to adapt the sounds. We borrow the words anyway, and just pronounce them differently. This happened with many Winnipeg street names that come from French such as <em>Notre Dame, Lagimodière</em>, and <em>Des Meurons</em>, which sound nothing like their original French when they are pronounced in English. But in the new proposed street names, there is no need to adapt any sounds. </p>
<p>It could be that a word uses a writing system or symbols that we don’t recognize, and don’t know how to pronounce. Imagine borrowing <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2046.html">Japanese kanji</a> or <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/a-question-of-legacy-cree-writing-and-the-origin-of-the-syllabics/">Cree syllabics</a> into English; we simply wouldn’t know what to do with them. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/macron">macron</a> on one of the letters in Mēskanow, and there is a double i in Abinojii, so those two can be a bit unfamiliar. But we adapt street names with French accents all the time such as <em>Taché</em>, which is always pronounced with a final vowel, never as “tach.” </p>
<p>It could also be that there are silent letters in the spelling. While English and French are well-known for having silent letters, which generally come from older pronunciations, Cree and Ojibwe are not. So in the proposed names, what you see is what you get. </p>
<p>So what is the problem? What is behind the complaints that Indigenous words are difficult to pronounce?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man near a shoreline wearing an Indigenous feather headdress waves to people in a canoe as they approach. He stands next to a sign that reads: Belcarra Regional Park and shows the new Indigenous name." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515710/original/file-20230316-18-8oad53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2021, Belcarra Regional Park in B.C. was renamed təmtəmíxwtən which local First Nations say translates to ‘biggest place for all the people.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
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<h2>Discomfort with unfamiliar language</h2>
<p>Discomfort with change, and possibly, the question of what is legitimate in the Canadian public sphere, drive these claims of difficult pronunciation. Take, for example, Winnipeg’s Lagimodière Boulevard. It is a long and difficult name for anglophones to pronounce correctly. But nobody proposes we change it because it has been around for so long, and because we accept that French names are legitimate.</p>
<p>There are too many Indigenous place names in Canada to count — Athabasca, Saskatchewan, Toronto, Mégantic, Winnipeg, Ottawa — the list goes on. Indigenous place names have been around longer than Canada, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/origin-name-canada.html">even forming the name of the country itself</a>. So what is different here? </p>
<p>Perhaps it is that in this case Indigenous words are <em>replacing</em> colonial ones. </p>
<p>People are very tied to their language and don’t like change, especially when it challenges a power structure. In Winnipeg, Bishop Grandin, a symbol of colonial power, is being replaced by languages of the historically oppressed: the Cree, the Ojibwe and the Métis. While this is precisely the point behind the change, it may make those uncertain about changing power structures uncomfortable. </p>
<p>If, however, you are simply nervous about learning unfamiliar long words, here are some tips. Break them up into syllables and sound them out. Listen to them being said and repeat them a few times. Given that there are no linguistic difficulties, it shouldn’t take long for them to be rolling off your tongue.</p>
<p>Assuming the new names are approved, they will likely be shortened just like other long names often are: like QEW for Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Way, or Lag for Winnipeg’s Lagimodière Boulevard. </p>
<p>But language matters, and changing a few of our street signs from colonial languages like English and French to Indigenous languages like Cree, Ojibwe and Michif is a small act of <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1524495846286/1557513199083">reconciliation</a> that can have a meaningful impact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Rosen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Some have claimed the proposed new Indigenous names for Winnipeg streets are too difficult to pronounce. But what does it mean when we say a word is hard to pronounce?Nicole Rosen, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Language Interactions, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1985822023-01-27T18:58:07Z2023-01-27T18:58:07ZTo revitalize Indigenous communities, the Residential School settlement must prioritize language education<p>After a decade, the federal government has reached an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit that included 325 First Nations across Canada. The class action was initiated by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and shíshálh Nation in 2012. It was concerned with, among other issues, the loss of language and culture through Residential Schools. The settlement, worth $2.8 billion, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/crown-indigenous-relations-northern-affairs/news/2022/01/gottfriedson-indian-residential-school-day-scholars-settlement-claims-process-now-open.html">includes support for cultural revitalization with focus on heritage, wellness and languages</a>.</p>
<p>Efforts toward cultural revitalization will be funded by the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1641331043370/1641331075419#s6">$50 million Day Scholars Revitalization Fund</a>. An important aspect of the <a href="https://www.justicefordayscholars.com/the-day-scholars-revitalization-fund/">fund will be the central role Indigenous Peoples</a> will have in managing and guiding the process of supporting the cultural revitalization.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-2-8-billion-settlement-with-indigenous-day-scholars-is-a-long-time-coming-198491">Canada's $2.8 billion settlement with Indigenous Day Scholars is a long time coming</a>
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<p>This settlement, just as the <a href="https://indiandayschools.com/en/">Indian Day School Settlement</a> and the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100015576/1571581687074#sect1">Indian Residential School Settlement</a> before it, focuses on the justice necessary to address physical and emotional harms, and the long term impacts that they had for Indigenous communities and their national, cultural and traditional identities.</p>
<p>These traumatic impacts were deliberately put upon Indigenous Peoples through focus on the most vulnerable members of a community — <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">their children</a>. Over generations, many Indigenous children and youth who were attending these schools lost their language, culture and <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/voices/%E2%80%98every-child-matters%E2%80%99-one-year-after-unmarked-graves-215-indigenous-children-were-found-in#">thousands lost their lives</a>. The trauma of those experiences may be too horrific to recount. The intergenerational trauma experienced by the communities affected by these schools were also traumatic and <a href="https://theconversation.com/residential-school-system-recognized-as-genocide-in-canadas-house-of-commons-a-harbinger-of-change-196774">constitute genocide</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men sit at a table. A Canadian flag hangs on a flag pole behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506695/original/file-20230126-37024-djve0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Shane Gottfriedson (left) and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller at a news conference in Vancouver on Jan. 21, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Revitalizing Indigenous languages</h2>
<p>A recurrent theme in the narratives of survivors is how <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/4-impacts-residential-schools-indigenous-people/">Indigenous identities have been adversely affected, and principal among those aspects are Indigenous languages</a>. Frequently regarded as one of the central components of Indigenous cultural identity, language revitalization has become of paramount importance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Calls to Action</a> contain a number of imperatives related to languages. Call to Action 14 identifies Indigenous languages as “a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society.” The reasons behind this are not difficult to understand: language allows humans to communicate ideas and is one of the pillars that support a people’s culture, traditions and history.</p>
<p>The importance of Indigenous languages is not just reflected in the special cultural and national features that they represent for Indigenous Peoples. They also are <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/voices/ancestral-languages-are-essential-to-indigenous-identities-in-canada">the optimum way to represent Indigenous knowledge, heritage and consciousness</a> — such manifestations are undermined by the use of non-Indigenous languages.</p>
<h2>Restoring agency</h2>
<p>The Day Scholars Revitalization Fund represents an important opportunity for those involved in the class action. First and foremost is the issue of agency. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2022/07/the-government-of-canada-supports-indigenous-led-efforts-to-revitalize-indigenous-languages.html">Responsibility for developing and employing a plan of action to utilize the funds rests with Indigenous Peoples</a>. </p>
<p>The issue of agency is essential given the history of unjust government control over matters that affect Indigenous communities. Indigenous people must have an adequate voice, influence and control in regard to issues, initiatives and policy that affect them, their communities and their territories. As is frequently proclaimed by Indigenous Peoples: <a href="https://www.longwoods.com/content/24947/insights/-nothing-about-us-without-us-taking-action-on-indigenous-health">Nothing about us without us!</a></p>
<h2>Community initiatives</h2>
<p>There are a number of ways that Indigenous communities can support the revitalization of their languages. The fundamental starting point is best summed up by the words of then chief commissioner of the TRC, Murray Sinclair: “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/30/self-educating-and-speaking-out-essential-for-reconciliation-indigenous-lecturer-says.html">Education got us into this mess and education will get us out</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly man with grey hair wearing a dark grey suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506697/original/file-20230126-35457-blwv85.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">shíshálh Nation hiwus (Chief) Warren Paull speaks during the news conference in Vancouver on Jan. 21, 2023. Agency is essential given the history of unjust government control over matters that affect Indigenous communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada has a <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016022/98-200-x2016022-eng.cfm">rich and diverse history of Indigenous languages</a>. However, most Indigenous children and youth, whether in public or on-reserve schools, are still educated in English and French.</p>
<p>There are however some encouraging developments in some Indigenous communities. In the far north, efforts have been made to ensure that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/opinion-bilingual-indigenous-language-education-1.4789013">Inuktut is the principal language of instruction in some Inuit schools</a>. In Manitoba, <a href="https://www.lrsd.net/page/1496/year-of-indigenous-languages">some school divisions have created opportunities for First Nations languages such as Anishinaabemowin to be featured in classroom programming</a>.</p>
<p>Partnerships between Indigenous communities and their respective schools need to be established to support the sorts of institutional transformations necessary to support curricular development, classroom resources and recruitment of qualified teachers.</p>
<p>These transformations require the voice, influence and control of Indigenous Peoples, and efforts should be marshalled to support such participation. Indigenous communities have worked hard to establish such partnerships. In the community of Kahnawa:ke, schools such as Karonhianónhnha Tsi Ionterihwaienstáhkhwa employ an immersion programme <a href="https://www.kecedu.ca/schools/karonhian-nhnha-tsi-ionterihwaienst-hkhwa/programs-and-services">to sustain the Kanien’keha language</a>.</p>
<p>Educational programming is crucial to revitalizing Indigenous languages, but it’s not the only piece of this puzzle. <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indigenous-language-revitalization-in-canada">Community conditions outside of the school in which children and youth have opportunities to speak the language are also essential</a>. </p>
<p>Communities need to develop strategies that provide improved opportunities for young people to learn and retain their language. Children and youth should be encouraged to use Indigenous languages outside of school as well through community laws, commerce and media. Such initiatives require the commitment of community members and the support of the Day Scholars Revitalization Fund may be well suited for this purpose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Deer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recurrent theme in the testimonies of Residential School survivors is how their cultural and linguistic identities were adversely affected.Frank Deer, Professor, Associate Dean, and Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Education, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1878232022-08-04T16:04:58Z2022-08-04T16:04:58ZReparations to Indigenous Peoples are critical after Pope’s apology for residential schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476773/original/file-20220730-18-gla12u.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C717%2C6130%2C3589&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protestor holds a sign saying 'Reparation for Reconciliation' as Pope Francis arrives for a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people are contemplating Pope Francis’s recent apology for residential schools in Canada during his visit <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/read-the-full-text-of-pope-francis-speech-and-apology-1.6001384">to Alberta</a>, as well as his statements <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-pope-francis-renews-his-apology-in-quebec/">from Québec City</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pope-francis-iqaluit-nunavut-visit-1.6535224">and Iqaluit</a>. In the aftermath of historical atrocities, apologies can offer a sense of justice and acknowledgement for people who were the targets of institutional violence. </p>
<p>People are looking for two things: </p>
<ol>
<li>Authenticity — Are the Pope’s statements a genuine reflection of the church’s “penance” and commitments to change?</li>
<li>Responsibility — Do the Pope’s statements demonstrate willingness and resolve for the church to address systemic causes and effects of specific harms?</li>
</ol>
<p>Many are waiting to see <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/pope-francis-residential-schools-genocide-1.6537203">if the Roman Catholic Church</a> will take institutional responsibility <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2015.1096580">for genocide</a>, sexualized abuse, <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/st-anne-residential-school-opp-documents">torture</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html#">and the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children</a>. </p>
<p>A more fulsome apology would acknowledge the church’s wrongdoing, and complicity with the Canadian settler-colonial state, to <a href="https://www.insightexchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Language-and-Violence-Resource-Kit.pdf">suppress Indigenous resistance</a> in order to access land. The links between extracting resources and taking children from Indigenous communities, and attacks on communities throughout this process, have been obscured — and reparations have a role addressing this. </p>
<h2>Violence prevention</h2>
<p>As a Métis scholar, with Cree and Gwichin ancestry, I have been committed to improving the conditions and well-being of Indigenous people in Canada.</p>
<p>I was recently lead researcher on a project at Concordia University called “<a href="https://www.concordia.ca/cuevents/artsci/2021/10/22/indigenous-healing-knowledges.html">Indigenous Healing Knowledges</a>.” One insight shared by many survivors at a related conference where Elders, Knowledge keepers and Indigenous youth offered teachings about their experiences and approaches to healing, is that people are more likely to recover — and promptly — when
<a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs101201918804">the violence against them has been acknowledged</a> and not minimized.</p>
<p>Recovery is more likely when they have been made safe, received care and have been treated with dignity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elders seen in a crowd listening." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477246/original/file-20220802-14394-9jeb3g.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous Elders listen as Pope Francis gives an apology during a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Accurate language use, in reference to violence, serves as a positive and just social response, which is important for restoring well-being. <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Reconciliation</a> must be preceded by truth-telling. The absence of historic truth leads to uncomfortable distortions for targeted groups. </p>
<h2>Ineffective apologies</h2>
<p>Apology analyst Andy Molinsky, a professor of international management and organizational behaviour at Brandeis University in the United States, describes <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/the-4-types-of-ineffective-apologies">four types of ineffective apologies</a>. </p>
<p>Two apology-types described by Molinsky are visible in the Pope’s statements: the “excessive apology” (or “I’m so sorry, I feel so bad”) that draws attention to one’s own feelings rather than what was done. The “incomplete apology” takes the tone of “I’m sorry that this happened, I’m sorry that you feel this way” and uses passive language. </p>
<p>For example, in drawing attention to his own feelings of sorrow, Pope Francis neglected to acknowledge the rampant sexualized violence that destroyed many lives in residential schools. In his July 28 remarks, he references the “evil” of sexual abuse, but did not <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9023430/pope-denounces-evil-sexual-abuse">say specifically that sexual abuse happened in the residential schools</a>. </p>
<p>He said the church in Canada is on a new path after being devastated by “the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters.”</p>
<h2>Pathologizing of survivors</h2>
<p>I would add a fifth aspect to Molinsky’s list of ineffective apologies: the pathologizing of victims/survivors. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-franciss-visit-to-canada-was-full-of-tensions-both-from-what-was-said-and-what-wasnt-186886">Pope Francis's visit to Canada was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in white clerical robes and a skullcap is seen seated and speaking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477247/original/file-20220802-12076-fgij7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Francis speaks during a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shifting the topic away from violence to the trauma of others conceals violence, disappears perpetrators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.18357/ijcyfs101201918804">may result in blaming victims</a>. This shift conceals the preceding acts of deliberation, planning and entrapment. Focusing on the mind of the victim is a strategy used by perpetrators, and their associates, to discredit victims and their claims.</p>
<h2>Taking children, lands</h2>
<p>Linda Coates and Allan Wade, two researchers <a href="https://www.responsebasedpractice.com/members">based in British Columbia</a> who examine violence and language, documented <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-00724-002">how representations of perpetrator violence in various media involve four linguistic operations</a>: they conceal violence, obscure perpetrator responsibility, conceal victim resistance and blame and pathologize victims. </p>
<p>The problem of violence is inextricably linked to the problem of representation. As such, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/this-school-is-a-jail-house-documents-reveal-the-horrors-of-indian-residential-schools">child prison camps are presented as “residential schools;”</a> violence as “trauma;” resistance as “resilience;” and “reconciliation” replaces “reparations.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-to-dont-call-me-resilient-our-podcast-about-race-149692">Listen to 'Don't Call Me Resilient': Our podcast about race</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Finally, there is a difference between an apology and forgiveness. Apologies can be coercive if they merely transfer responsibility for “reconciliation” or “getting over it” to the victims/survivors. </p>
<h2>Repairing harms</h2>
<p>In order for history to be aligned with the realities of state abuse, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-s-bishops-want-catholic-church-to-issue-new-statement-on-doctrine-of-discovery-1.6004557">a plan of action must follow</a> an apology. </p>
<p>In terms of reparations, the Pope’s recent apologies were accompanied by Indigenous calls for action, including <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/07/26/Post-Apology-To-Do-List/">by Cindy Blackstock</a>, <a href="https://www.therecord.com/ts/news/canada/2022/07/26/pope-franciss-apology-fails-to-meet-truth-and-reconciliation-call-to-action-sinclair.html">Murray Sinclair</a>, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/26/pope-francis-we-dont-accept-your-hollow-apology-heres-why.html?fbclid=IwAR0A8i3lDk35ceh4lPc2MWXdQy7xX29wo4hofuqD9Q2jvirtVJzxqeFCLis">Pamela Palmater</a> and other Indigenous leaders. </p>
<p>Despite the obscuring language in the Pope’s apologies, his visit could mark a new way forward — if the Catholic Church supports and initiates actions laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 calls to action. Both the church and our legal, educational and governance structures across Canada have much farther to go. </p>
<p>At a recent conference <a href="https://ialmh.org/general-information">on Law and Mental Health</a>, in Lyon, France, legal panelists indicated that a fuller implementation of UNDRIP would address many of Indigenous Peoples’ oustanding concerns. Much of Canada’s wealth has come from what was taken from Indigenous people.</p>
<p>Correcting this wrong will assist Indigenous nations in their self-governance process. </p>
<p>Another important role of the Roman Catholic church is to return some of the land stolen from Indigenous Peoples. The church must also look to its own formidable existing assets to swiftly <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8997434/canada-bishops-fundraiser-residential-schools">honour the compensation package Catholic entities agreed to pay under the 2006 settlement</a>. Church leaders now say they need five years to raise the current target of $30 million.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men in black clerical robes are seen walking past a seated man in a white clerical robe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477245/original/file-20220802-15-5h8giu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cardinals walk by Pope Francis during the final public event of his papal visit across Canada as he prepares to leave Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A different country</h2>
<p>In Canada, Indigenous communities continue to face encroachment by the settler society, particularly by extractive industries as land defenders are arrested. Children are still <a href="https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2087&context=all_fac">removed from their homes</a> when supports could be offered instead.</p>
<p>Church leaders cannot look the other way and pretend the church has no relationship to these legacies of harm.</p>
<p>The church’s values are said to include <a href="https://www.caritas.org.nz/catholic-social-teaching/human-dignity#">respect for and promotion of human dignity</a>, spiritual devotion to <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2016/04/08/top-10-takeaways-amoris-laetitia">the family and community</a>, charity and <a href="https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/ignatian-spirituality/introduction-to-ignatian-spirituality/social-justice-catholic-social-teaching/">social justice</a>. </p>
<p>If extended to Indigenous Peoples and nations, Canada would be a very different country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Richardson is affiliated with The Centre for Response-Based Practice trying to address violence. I am the Quebec Indigenous critic for the Green Party and a member of the Green party but I don't mention that here. I have received SSHRC research grants, including for the Indigenous Healing Practices grant. In some of the writings for this grant, I explain context but it is not directly related to the Pope's visit.</span></em></p>The Pope’s apology could mark a new way forward if the Catholic Church makes genuine reparations for the evils it perpetrated.Catherine Richardson, Director, First Peoples Studies Program, Associate Professor, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1865332022-07-21T14:51:58Z2022-07-21T14:51:58ZPope Francis’ visit to Canada: The complicated relationship between Indigenous communities and the church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474886/original/file-20220719-12-ilwit1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5698%2C4194&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A key question we should be asking during his upcoming visit is: How will an apology contribute to healing, or will it just deepen distrust in the church?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, file)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/pope-francis--visit-to-canada--the-complicated-relationship-between-indigenous-communities-and-the-church" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“We call upon the Pope to issue an apology…”</em> — Truth and Reconcililation Commission, <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Call to Action 58</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Canada will again provide <a href="https://www.papalvisit.ca/">an opportunity for him to listen to and speak with Indigenous people</a>. The visit relates to the Roman Catholic-run residential schools where First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their families, with many subjected to multiple abuses and some never making it home. </p>
<p>In April 2022, the Pope <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pope-francis-responds-indigenous-delegations-final-meeting-1.6404344">offered an apology to a delegation of Survivors in Rome</a>, however it remains to be seen whether he will expand on that apology to Survivors and communities when here. </p>
<p>A key question we should be asking during his upcoming visit is: How will an apology contribute to healing, or will it just deepen distrust in the church? </p>
<p>I hope to address this question by briefly looking at the complex and tense relationship between Indigenous communities and organized religion. As a Mohawk who was raised in the Catholic tradition and an academic at a theological school, I’m in a unique position to interrogate this question and have this conversation.</p>
<h2>Arrival of missionaries</h2>
<p>Before European settlers arrived in Canada, Indigenous communities were able to easily maintain <a href="https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9923318643503681">their own spiritual beliefs and practices</a>. But as more and more settlers arrived, missionaries from various denominations began to interact with Indigenous people, <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/role-churches">intending to convert them to Christianity and “civilze” them</a>. </p>
<p>These activities, however, were not applied uniformly. By now, most people know about the church’s role in <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system">Indian Residential Schools</a>, but other conversion strategies were also employed. </p>
<p>In Protestant traditions, many favoured “assimilationist strategies,” which pressured Indigenous people to adopt the cultural norms of colonists. Some Christian missionaries used methods that accepted the inclusion of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5582679/">few traditional medicines</a> <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/trickster">and trickster stories</a>, others encouraged the following of Jesus without any coercion, <a href="https://www.commonword.ca/ResourceView/82/16064">allowing Indigenous people to make their own choices</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white portrait photo of a man" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474722/original/file-20220718-40251-c3cpmu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Rev. Peter Jones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/351173/history-of-the-ojebway-indians-with-especial-reference-to-t">(History of the Ojebway Indians)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through the work of evangelists, many Indigenous people entered into this new faith. The mission was further advanced when some of these new converts worked to persuade their own people to accept Christianity. One example is Rev. Peter Jones, or Kahkewaquonaby (Sacred Feathers). </p>
<p>In the early 1800s, Jones lived among Mohawk Christians in Davisville, Ont. <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442668546/sacred-feathers">In a book based on his own writings, <em>Sacred Feathers</em>, he wrote</a>: “they appeared to have bridged the division between Christianity and their old Indian faith ….” Jones eventually joined the Methodist Church and dedicated his life to sharing “the good news with his people.” </p>
<p>For many Indigenous people, the bond to Christianity wasn’t simply an “us versus them” situation (and still isn’t), as faith successfully took root in many communities. </p>
<h2>‘All Indigenous people hate the church’</h2>
<p>It’s important to note that there isn’t one Indigenous perspective when it comes to the church (or any other matter). While each nation will have its own worldview, there are individuals within these nations who each have their own experiences, which leads to differing opinions and approaches. </p>
<p>From an outsider’s perspective, it seems that there is an opinion that all Indigenous people share the same attitude about the church: that Indigenous people hate the church. This isn’t the case, but there are of course many Indigenous people who are highly critical. </p>
<p>Waziyatawin, a Dakota professor and activist, views Christianity as uncompromising. <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/14-6.htm">Referring to the biblical verse John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life …,”</a> as challenging, <a href="https://collections.irshdc.ubc.ca/index.php/Detail/objects/8778">she says</a> it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“disallows the possibility of multiple, equally valid, spiritual truths and renounces all other traditions as, at best, incomplete and in need of fulfilment, or misguided and in need of correction.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>After the news of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-eml%C3%BAps-te-secw%C3%A9pemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778">unmarked graves being found at former Indian Residential Schools began to surface in 2021</a>, there were numerous <a href="https://www.insider.com/photos-churches-in-canada-torched-over-indigenous-childrens-graves-2021-7">incidents of churches being burned</a>. While many applauded the actions, others, despite their own dislike of the church, condemned them. </p>
<p>Osoyoos Indian Band <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/temperature-rising-first-nations-leaders-condemn-rash-of-church-fires-across-canada">Chief Clarence Louie said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I can understand it, I don’t like the church. I don’t believe in the church. Many residential school survivors hate the church with a passion — but I have never heard any of them ever suggest people turn to this.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman dances in regalia in front of people with handrums" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474723/original/file-20220718-76655-rsq8ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of an Indigenous delegation perform in St. Peter’s Square in March 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To this day, Indigenous voices continue to be active in the church communities. This is evident with the existence of the <a href="https://www.anglican.ca/about/ccc/acip/">Anglican Council of Indigenous People</a> within the United Church; <a href="https://www.naiits.com/about/">NAIITS (formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies)</a>, an organization that encourages Indigenous people and communities to advance their own perspectives on theology and practice; and the <a href="https://sandysaulteaux.ca/">Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre</a>, an educational school that prepares students for Indigenous leadership roles in the church.</p>
<p>There are varying degrees of Indigenous participation within religion across Canada. And it would be fair to say that within these circles, there may be challenges with being part of an organization that <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">contributed to the loss of language, culture, family and community relationships</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-residential-schools-acts-of-genocide-deceit-and-control-by-church-and-state-162145">Indian Residential Schools: Acts of genocide, deceit and control by church and state</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is reasonable to expect that any apology from the Pope will be met with mixed responses. Some will adopt a “wait and see” approach, while others may fully accept or reject it. </p>
<p>The apology may promote healing for some while others may claim it is too late. Regardless of the voice, there is one certainty: the impacts for those receiving the apology will be significant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo is affiliated with Toronto Urban Native Ministry. He is a member of the Board of Directors.</span></em></p>It is reasonable to expect that any apology from the Pope will be met with mixed responses.Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream, Theology) and Special Advisor on Indigenous Initiatives, Victoria University, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855552022-07-12T21:30:13Z2022-07-12T21:30:13ZPope’s visit to Canada: Indigenous communities await a new apology — and a commitment to justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473437/original/file-20220711-26-bn3oav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C673%2C6195%2C3681&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on March 31, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/pope-s-visit-to-canada--indigenous-communities-await-a-new-apology-—-and-a-commitment-to-justice" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Only in the past <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-magazine-for-march-27-2022-1.6391961/time-has-come-for-pope-to-apologize-over-residential-schools-says-phil-fontaine-1.6395063">few decades have survivors of the residential school system spoken out publicly</a> about the injustices they endured in these colonial school systems.</p>
<p>More recently, governments, organizations and institutions have initiated acts of reconciliation, particularly in light <a href="https://nctr.ca/records/reports/#trc-reports">of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)</a> and <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">its Calls to Action</a>. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/historical-background/prime-minister-harpers-apology">there have</a> been <a href="https://www.cccb.ca/letter/statement-of-apology-by-the-catholic-bishops-of-canada-to-the-indigenous-peoples-of-this-land">some apologies issued</a>, many survivors have <a href="https://www.indigenouswatchdog.org/actions-commitments/stakeholder/catholic-church/call-to-action-58/">highly anticipated</a> an apology from the Pope, in Canada.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-residential-schools-what-does-it-mean-if-the-pope-apologizes-in-canada-170984">Indian Residential Schools: What does it mean if the Pope apologizes in Canada?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-pope-visit-maskwacis-alberta-residential-school">Pope Francis</a> will visit Canada <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-residential-school-indigenous-pope-1.6500119#">from July 24 to 29</a>. Many are hopeful he will issue an additional apology — one that is full of accountability and institutional responsibility, unlike the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/april/documents/20220401-popoli-indigeni-canada.html">one issued at the Vatican on April 1</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CgVXDR-4KKQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Years of research</h2>
<p>As a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe), part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, it took years of research before I understood the connection between the strange and heavy silences I recognized as a child but could not name and <a href="https://www.westwind.ab.ca/about-us/podcast/post/dr-tiffany-prete-understanding-intergenerational-trauma">the devastation caused</a> by colonialism inflicted by the Canadian government and Christian churches through the Indian Residential School System.</p>
<p>Part <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLGCqTgdX70">of my research</a> involved articulating my journey and that of my community in <a href="https://doi.org/10.18733/cpi29409">navigating the written records of the Roman Catholic order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate</a>. These records contained information about our people, and we used them to identify our ancestors and to research <a href="https://www.diopress.com/product-page/brave-work-in-indigenous-education">the colonial education system</a> on the Blood Reserve. The Oblates came to the Blood Reserve and opened <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/indigenous-residential-schools-trc-alberta-25-truth-reconciliation-1.6185579">a residential school</a>, as did representatives <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-donors-from-canada-and-europe-helped-fund-indian-residential-schools-164028">of the Anglican Church</a>. Representatives of Catholic, Anglican and Methodist denominations were involved in running colonial schools on the Blood Reserve.</p>
<h2>Earlier statement made in Rome</h2>
<p>The TRC’s <a href="https://www.indigenouswatchdog.org/cta/call-to-action-58/#">Call to Action No. 58 asks the Pope to “issue an apology</a> to survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools,” and to do so in Canada. </p>
<p>An apology in line with this call would help demonstrate the Roman Catholics’ responsibility in the colonial education system.</p>
<p>Pope Francis’s <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/april/documents/20220401-popoli-indigeni-canada.html">earlier apology</a>, in April, mainly addressed the cultural abuse Indigenous Peoples suffered. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The chain that passed on knowledge and ways of life in union with the land was broken by a colonization that lacked respect for you, tore many of you from your vital milieu and tried to conform you to another mentality. In this way, great harm was done to your identity and your culture … following programs devised in offices rather than the desire to respect the life of peoples.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A statement like this places the blame on colonization and fails to acknowledge the Catholic Church’s role in supporting these negative colonial outcomes for Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Pope Francis also said, “I feel shame … in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.” This is the extent to which the Pope acknowledged specific types of abuse that Indigenous children suffered at the hands of religious members.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/catholic-church-response-to-sexual-abuse-must-centre-on-survivor-well-being-not-defensiveness-162417">Catholic Church response to sexual abuse must centre on survivor well-being, not defensiveness</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Pope Francis did not address how Catholic-run residential schools negatively impacted generations of Indigenous Peoples through spiritual, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Nor did he articulate any formal plan for how the Catholic Church would attempt to walk the path of reconciliation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four people are seen sitting in front of a backdrop that says 'walking together' and two bishops are wearing black clerical garments and collars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473439/original/file-20220711-24-8rfdae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President, Natan Obed, Inuit community member Martha Greig and bishops Richard Gagnon and William McGrattan attend a press conference in Rome on March 28, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Truth, justice, relationships</h2>
<p>There are many of us who hope Pope Francis’s visit will bring a new and more sincere apology. </p>
<p>The Pope must set foot in our communities and onto our reserves. He must see the lasting impacts the Catholic Church has had. He must have conversations, build relationships and listen to the needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. He must learn that healing and reconciliation will look different across various communities. </p>
<p>The Pope must make a plan with us, not for us, in order to walk the path of reconciliation.</p>
<p>If the Pope cannot provide a plan while he is here, due to the short visit, he can set things in motion. Indigenous Peoples need more than words. Pope Francis should commit to timelines for formal actions and plans.</p>
<p>These plans should include commitments for representatives of the Catholic Church with the power to make high-level decisions to work with Indigenous communities, and to fulfil all of the TRC’s Calls to Action <a href="https://crc-canada.org/en/ressources/catholic-responses-truth-reconciliation-call-action-48-questions-regarding-doctrine-discovery">related to</a> <a href="https://www.catholicregister.org/item/33968-reconciliation-council-positive-step-forward">the Catholic Church</a> and to attend to any additional needs.</p>
<h2>How to move forward</h2>
<p>As someone who has researched colonial schooling, and who has learned from other experts and Elders in my community, I offer the following suggestions of how to move forward. This is by no means an exhaustive list: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The Catholic Church should work with Indigenous communities to determine if criminal investigations will be made <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8067396/residential-school-abuse-perpetrators-charges-survivors/">into the abuses Indigenous children suffered</a> at the hands of adults who were in charge of residential schools. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-school-survivors-draft-papal-apology-bishops-1.6489390">Survivors have asked the Pope to acknowledge church failures in reporting</a> abusers, and the church must hold <a href="https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/92-year-old-charged-following-investigation-into-historic-sexual-abuse-at-manitoba-residential-school-1.5951416">those accountable who are still alive today</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/1873085/first-nations-delegates-ask-pope-francis-to-revoke-church-doctrine-used-to-justify-colonialism">papal bulls (edicts) used to justify</a> the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius must <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/07/06/bishop-syracuse-doctrine-discovery-indigenous-240986">be revoked</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/records-for-residential-schools-should-be-made-public-says-blood-tribe-researcher-1.6081136">Catholic records pertaining to the 1870-1990s colonial school systems must be released</a> and copies given to relevant Indigenous communities. </p></li>
<li><p>In response to requests from survivors, Pope Francis must <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-school-survivors-draft-papal-apology-bishops-1.6489390">recognize that many students were buried in unmarked graves</a> and a plan should be shared to aid Indigenous Peoples while <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7970651/finding-residential-school-graves-complicated">they uncover unmarked graves</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-lawyer-investigate-discovery-of-215-childrens-graves-in-kamloops-as-a-crime-against-humanity-161941">Indigenous lawyer: Investigate discovery of 215 children's graves in Kamloops as a crime against humanity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/04/01/theres-a-lot-to-it-repatriating-indigenous-artifacts-from-vatican-may-take-years.html">Indigenous artifacts at the Vatican</a> must be investigated to determine authorship, and dialogue must happen with the appropriate communities on the fate of the artifacts.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/vatican-assets-residential-school-compensation-1.6404280">Catholic Church</a> <a href="https://irshdc.ubc.ca/2021/12/07/online-resources-clarify-outstanding-obligations-of-the-catholic-church-to-indian-residential-school-survivors/">must live up</a> to the original <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100015576/1571581687074">Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>A new apology from the Pope must be issued on Canadian soil.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>As Pope Francis declared in his April statement, “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/april/documents/20220401-popoli-indigeni-canada.html">Whenever memory and identity are cherished and protected, we become more human</a>.”</p>
<p>Let us see how the Pope will cherish and protect the memory and identity of Indigenous Peoples by engaging in truth and justice. Such actions will help the world see we are human beings, which colonization and the colonial education system stole from us. </p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Dionne Prete received funding from SSHRC, the National Indian Brotherhood Trust Fund, Community University Research Alliance and Networked Environment of Aboriginal Health Research. She currently receives funding from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. </span></em></p>Pope Francis and the Catholic Church must make a plan with Indigenous Peoples, not for us, in order to walk the path of reconciliation. Some initial suggestions of what a plan might include.Tiffany Dionne Prete, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department, University of LethbridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854642022-07-12T13:44:00Z2022-07-12T13:44:00ZCanada’s reckoning with colonialism and education must include Indian Day Schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472849/original/file-20220706-10369-x3gutm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C2991%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman who attended an Indian Day School joins her daughter as they look at the Orange shirts, shoes, flowers and messages on display outside the B.C. legislature in June 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canada-s-reckoning-with-colonialism-and-education-must-include-indian-day-schools" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Sparked by the locating of hundreds of possible <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/tkemlups-te-secwepemc-nation-gathers-to-mark-detection-of-unmarked-graves/">unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools across the country</a>, there has been a public reckoning with the ongoing legacies of the residential school system. </p>
<p>Many Canadians are finally coming to terms with the truth that the Canadian government, in co-operation with Christian churches, ran a genocidal school system intended to “<a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system">kill the Indian in the child</a>” for more than a century. </p>
<p>What most people don’t realize, however, is that Canada’s system of “Indian education” was not limited to residential schools. It also included a <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/indigenous/learning-about-indian-day-schools">vast network of nearly 700 federally funded and church-run Indian Day Schools</a>, which were attended by an estimated 200,000 Indigenous people between 1870 and 2000.</p>
<p>Despite making up a large part of Canada’s system of Indian education, day schools were excluded from the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100015576/1571581687074">Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement</a>. A different class action for day schools closes <a href="https://indiandayschools.com/en/">on July 13, 2022</a>, and so far over <a href="https://indiandayschools.com/en/updates/">150,000</a> people have been included. </p>
<p>In recognition of the brave Survivors who have been fighting for justice and sharing their stories, we argue that Canada’s reckoning with colonialism and education must also include Indian Day Schools. If Canada is serious about putting truth before reconciliation, then the history and ongoing legacies of all kinds of colonial schooling need to be acknowledged and addressed. </p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>Day school and residential school systems need to be understood as interrelated and overlapping parts of Canada’s assimilationist education project. </p>
<p>In the mid-to-late <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/first-nations-call-on-province-to-investigate-day-schools-1.6194271">1700s and early 1800s, Christian missionaries started schools for Indigenous people</a> — most without financial support from government — in an effort to gain converts and control. </p>
<p>By the 1870s, the federal government had officially partnered with churches and offered to pay more for schooling as a way of gaining greater influence and authority over Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A map of Indian Day Schools across Canada" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472396/original/file-20220704-14-wxeyfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each dot represents the location of a day school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(indiandayschools.org)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The new system of Indian education, overseen by the Department of Indian Affairs, had two distinct prongs: day schools, which were often located on reserves where children could return home at the end of the day, and boarding or “residential” schools, where children resided at schools far away from their communities — sometimes children attended both, at different times, during their school years. </p>
<p>The two kinds of schools shared the same goal: to solve the so-called “Indian problem” by <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/lessons-in-legitimacy">undercutting and delegitimizing Indigenous ways of life to better facilitate settler capitalism and Canadian nation-building</a>.</p>
<p>The day school system lasted <a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-day-school-survivors-are-seeking-truth-and-justice-146655">until 2000 with the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and, later, United churches</a> overseeing daily operations of the schools in various parts of the country. </p>
<p>Like at Indian Residential Schools, news stories have also reported <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/federal-day-schools-indigenous-students-deaths-canada">deaths</a>, <a href="https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/local-peterborough/news/2022/04/11/historian-shares-how-curve-lake-indian-day-school-abused-experimented-on-indigenous-students.html">experiments</a> and <a href="https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/local-peterborough/news/2022/04/11/stolen-tears-curve-lake-indian-day-school-survivor-shares-his-story-of-being-abused-in-his-own-community.html">abuse</a> at day schools that have had lasting impacts. </p>
<h2>The reckoning</h2>
<p>For more than a decade, day school Survivors have been fighting for truth and justice. Since the settlement was reached <a href="https://indiandayschools.com/en/updates/page/3/">in 2019</a>, both of the original settlements’ founders <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/legacy-of-garry-mclean-lives-on-in-day-school-wellness-fund/">Garry Mclean</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/raymond-mason-residential-school-survivor-passes-away-1.6392120">Raymond Mason</a>, have passed away. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mcleandayschoolssettlementcorporation.ca">Mclean Day School Settlement Corporation</a> was established with a $200 million legacy fund that emerged from the settlement with the federal government and is intended to support “language & culture, healing & wellness, commemoration and truth telling.” The settlement process has had mixed results so far. </p>
<p>Journalist Ka’nhehsí:io Deer found that Survivors have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/federal-day-school-settlement-deadline-1.6466640">revictimized by the process</a> and that 85 per cent of the claims that were settled occurred at Level 1 (the lowest amount available, $10,000). </p>
<p>While over <a href="https://indiandayschools.com/en/updates/">150,000 survivors</a> submitted an application, others <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indian-day-school-settlement-extension-request-1.6433146">repeatedly</a> asked for <a href="https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/anishinabek-nation-calls-on-feds-to-extend-day-school-settlement-5511056">more time</a> to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/indian-day-school-compensation-claim-deadline-approaching-1.6495399">tell their stories</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An archive photo of students outside of a day school" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472397/original/file-20220704-16-te7dvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children at Indian Day School in Trout Lake, Ont.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Department of Indian and Northern Affairs/Library and Archives Canada, C-068924)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The recent federal budget saw the government <a href="https://budget.gc.ca/2022/report-rapport/chap7-en.html#2022-1">earmark $25 million between 2023 and 2025 for Library and Archives of Canada</a> to “support the digitization of millions of documents relating to the federal Indian Day School System, which will ensure survivors and all Canadians have meaningful access to them.” </p>
<p>This funding is important, but it will come too late to help Survivors <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/08/30/certain-indian-day-school-records-off-limits-to-public-while-province-conducts-investigation.html">with the class action</a>.</p>
<p>Digitization efforts are important because they can generate more awareness and education about the day school system. This is significant because, unlike the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), there will be no national inquiry or final report.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation-universities-and-schools-must-acknowledge-how-colonial-education-has-reproduced-anti-indigenous-racism-123315">National Day for Truth & Reconciliation: Universities and schools must acknowledge how colonial education has reproduced anti-Indigenous racism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Murray Sinclair, chair of the TRC, often says that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/truth-and-reconciliation-chair-urges-canada-to-adopt-un-declaration-on-indigenous-peoples-1.3096225">education got us into this mess so education must get us out</a>. </p>
<p>As part of this process then, people must learn more about the history and legacies of residential schools and day schools (and public schools too) and understand their relationship to Canada’s colonial project. </p>
<p>We encourage readers to check out <a href="https://www.indiandayschools.org">www.indiandayschools.org</a> to find the Indian Day School closest to them and <a href="https://sway.office.com/HTP4bXRfg5ED0KeB?ref=Link">read more about this history</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Carleton receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jackson Pind received funding from the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada and currently receives funding from National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. </span></em></p>People must learn more about the history and legacies of residential schools and day schools and understand their relationship to Canada’s colonial project.Sean Carleton, Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Indigenous Studies, University of ManitobaJackson Pind, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Methodologies, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1782842022-03-23T19:53:49Z2022-03-23T19:53:49ZThe importance of Indigenous storytelling in tales of post-apocalyptic survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453754/original/file-20220323-23-14c2mc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C75%2C8441%2C5707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Blood Quantum, Indigenous survivors are immune to a plague that transforms others into zombies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.elevationpictures.com/catalogue">(Elevation Pictures)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-importance-of-indigenous-storytelling-in-tales-of-post-apocalyptic-survival" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>With many provinces across <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/the-time-is-absolutely-right-for-pandemic-measures-to-lift-experts-say-1.5785151">Canada lifting vaccine and mask mandates</a>, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-cope-with-no-mask-anxiety">anxieties are high</a>. If COVID-19 is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/18/heres-how-covid-19-transitions-from-a-pandemic-to-endemic.html">becoming endemic</a>, we must search for what philosopher Jonathan Lear calls “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674027466">radical hope</a>.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/radical-hope-what-young-dreamers-in-literature-can-teach-us-about-covid-19-142528">Radical hope: What young dreamers in literature can teach us about COVID-19</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, alongside trauma and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/pandemics-timeline">particularly in times of pandemics throughout history</a>, hope can take the form of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkDsIcAXETY">stories about resilience</a>. And for Indigenous people in particular, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19/indigenous-peoples-covid-19-report.html">who have disproportionately experienced the effects of the pandemic</a>, what better way to find hope than to turn to Indigenous survivors in post-apocalyptic narratives?</p>
<h2>Survival stories</h2>
<p>Métis author Cherie Dimaline provides us the opportunity to do just this. Dimaline is best known for <em>The Marrow Thieves</em>, which won the <a href="https://ggbooks.ca/about">Governor General’s Literary Award</a> and the <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/">Kirkus Prize</a>. <em>The Marrow Thieves</em> is listed as one of <a href="https://time.com/collection/100-best-ya-books/6084702/the-marrow-thieves/"><em>TIME</em> magazine’s Best YA Books of All Time</a>. </p>
<p>The novel was written in response to the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5448390/first-nations-suicide-rate-statscan/">suicide epidemic</a> within Indigenous communities. During her work with Indigenous youth, Dimaline wanted to show them a viable future where they could be <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2017/11/06/cherie-dimaline-hopes-and-dreams-in-the-apocalypse.html">the heroes</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWYrmrAi8ow?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Cherie Dimaline at The Walrus Talks in 2019.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.dcbyoungreaders.com/the-marrow-thieves">The Marrow Thieves</a></em> and its sequel, <em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/651691/hunting-by-stars-by-cherie-dimaline/9780735269651">Hunting by Stars</a></em>, follow Métis protagonist Frenchie and his found family of other Indigenous survivors as they roam a post-apocalyptic wasteland ravaged by climate change. In this new world, everyone except Indigenous people have lost the ability to dream. <a href="https://herizons.ca/archives/cover/cherie-dimaline-the-importance-of-dreams">Without dreams, people go mad</a> — killing others and committing suicide. </p>
<p>Governments respond by establishing schools inspired by the residential school system, and characters called “recruiters” search for Indigenous survivors to bring back to the schools to be “harvested.” The marrow within the bones of Indigenous people contains dreams, and by harvesting and consuming the marrow, non-Indigenous survivors can finally dream. </p>
<p><em>Hunting by Stars</em> reflects contemporary concerns about residential schools as well as contagion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…medical masks hanging from their ears like hand-me-down jewelry. They had the plague. Trash cans at the end of each driveway were heaped with syringes, so many vaccinations and cures thrown out because none would work. The people stumbled into one another, knocking over cans and crunching through needles. They had that look, the one that let you know they were dreamless.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Story and hope</h2>
<p>In Dimaline’s novels, there is <em>the</em> Story: as Indigenous survivors tell their stories, the overarching Story changes slightly to include these new voices. Story, with a capital “s,” is comprised of a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ail.2020.0023">shared oral history</a>,” produced by the various characters’ narratives.</p>
<p>Miigwans, the Elder figure in the novel is responsible for telling Story to ensure the younger Indigenous survivors in the novel remember their history. Therefore, his telling of Story ensures that it will never be forgotten. However, Story is not just the history of the Indigenous characters in the novel; <a href="https://quillandquire.com/review/the-marrow-thieves/">Story is the history</a> of everyone living in Canada, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>Story includes climate change, pipelines, colonialism, Treaties and the residential school system. </p>
<p>Dimaline admits that stories are how she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/books/indigenous-native-american-sci-fi-horror.html">understands herself and her community</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a book cover HUNTING BY STARS showing an illustration of a silhouetted forest beneath a starry night sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453750/original/file-20220323-17-1taksgr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The book cover for Cherie Dimaline’s 2021 novel, <em>Hunting by Stars</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/651691/hunting-by-stars-by-cherie-dimaline/9780735269651">(Penguin Random House)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given that Dimaline’s original inspiration was to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-message-ya-novelist-cherie-dimaline-has-for-young-indigenous-readers-1.4195036">bring hope to Indigenous youth</a> amidst rising suicide rates, the relationship between Story and hope cannot be overlooked.</p>
<p>Dimaline’s novels resonate in today’s world. The re-introduction of residential schools in the world of Dimaline’s novels is timely, given recent confirmations of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/canada-169-potential-graves-found-at-former-residential-school">unmarked burial sites</a> at former residential school locations throughout Canada.</p>
<h2>Plagues and zombies</h2>
<p>Story plays a similar role in Mi'kmaq director Jeff Barnaby’s 2019 zombie film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7394674/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0"><em>Blood Quantum</em></a>. In <em>Blood Quantum</em>, a zombie-producing plague has ravaged the world, but Indigenous people find themselves immune to the virus. They establish a safe zone on the fictional Red Crow Reservation and protect both Indigenous and non-Indigenous survivors. However, the inclusion of the latter is a point of contention for some characters.</p>
<p>In the film, there are a few animated scenes that represent Story. In the final animated scene, an elder named Gisigu appears to perish beneath a mass of zombies. However, the scene changes to animation, and Gisigu emerges victorious. Gisigu may have perished in the material world, but in Story, he lives on. When animated Gisigu emerges from beneath the mass, he vows never to let the zombies pass, protecting the future of his surviving Indigenous family.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man stands over a pile of zombies in a room with blood-stained walls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453748/original/file-20220323-17-1qb0kio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A still from the Indigenous zombie horror movie, <em>Blood Quantum</em> (2019).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Elevation Pictures)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding through Story</h2>
<p>For many Indigenous people, storytelling is a form of reclamation — what Anishnaabe writer Gerald Vizenor would call “<a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska-paperback/9780803210837/">survivance</a>,” a portmanteau of survival and resistance. The concept relies on the use of stories to ensure the continued <a href="https://politicaltheology.com/survivance/">presence of Indigenous people</a>.</p>
<p>In response to the recent confirmations of unmarked burial sites at residential schools, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/11/21/canadas-crying-shame-the-fields-full-of-childrens-bones">survivors are recounting stories about those who unfortunately did not survive</a>. Doing so is survivance — these stories bring lost Indigenous children into the present and give those who survived as well as those who unfortunately did not, <a href="https://theconversation.com/residential-school-literature-can-teach-the-colonial-present-and-imagine-better-futures-120383">voice and agency</a>.</p>
<p>As a third-generation residential school survivor, I cannot possibly understand what my grandmother experienced inside the schools. I can, however, <a href="https://epl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/69643431/675287927">read Story and begin to understand my own part in Story</a>. Therefore, we can all learn a little something about ourselves and our world from Indigenous survival stories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Krista Collier-Jarvis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous stories of survival in fictional post-apocalyptic landscapes draw from actual events and experiences. These stories preserve histories and the possibility of hope.Krista Collier-Jarvis, PhD Candidate in English, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1702422021-10-25T16:23:44Z2021-10-25T16:23:44ZIgnore debaters and denialists, Canada’s treatment of Indigenous Peoples fits the definition of genocide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427615/original/file-20211020-19-1hm24ja.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rally participants hold up signs and wear orange shirts as they march in support of residential school survivors and the families of missing and murdered Indigenous children in Winnipeg on
July 1, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Sudoma </span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/ignore-debaters-and-denialists--canada-s-treatment-of-indigenous-peoples-fits-the-definition-of-genocide" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>This summer, as many Indigenous communities searched the sites of former residential schools for dead and missing children, <a href="https://www.christopherdummitt.com/blank-page">a small group of historians</a> insisted on debating the applicability of the term “genocide” when referring to Canada’s Indian Residential School system. </p>
<p>Objecting to an earlier statement on the <a href="https://cha-shc.ca/news/canada-day-statement-the-history-of-violence-against-indigenous-peoples-fully-warrants-the-use-of-the-word-genocide-2021-06-30">applicability of that term</a> made by the Canadian Historical Association, these historians penned an open letter rejecting the notion that there is a scholarly consensus on the issue and casting doubt on whether residential schooling warrants the use of the word genocide. </p>
<p>The letter was republished on a few websites, including one that chose the title: “<a href="https://www.dorchesterreview.ca/blogs/news/historians-rally-vs-genocide-myth">Historians Rally vs. ‘Genocide’ Myth</a>.” </p>
<p>As many Canadians begin reckoning with residential school history and learn how to <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/before-reconciliation-is-possible-canadians-must-admit-the-truth/">put truth before reconciliation</a>, we — as a historian of residential schooling and a genocide scholar — feel it is important to explain the general scholarly agreement about Canada and genocide. </p>
<p>A better understanding of what most genocide scholars believe can help people understand how Canada’s Indian Residential School system <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-mmiwg-report-spurs-debate-on-the-shifting-definitions-of-genocide-118324">fits with definitions of genocide</a>.</p>
<h2>Definitions and the strategy of dissent</h2>
<p>The open letter objects to the Canadian Historical Association’s claim that there is a “broad consensus” on the applicability of genocide in the Canadian context. The authors and signatories take their presence as proof that no such consensus exists. </p>
<p>Yet, the entire letter rests on a narrow definition of “consensus” as implying unanimity, or agreement by all people. Consensus, however, can also be used, as it is by the Canadian Historical Association, to signify a general agreement. In this usage, there’s no requirement to account for marginal, contrary voices. </p>
<p>The existence of a very small group of naysayers — the vast majority of them not members of the Canadian Historical Association and some of them openly engaging in <a href="https://theconversation.com/truth-before-reconciliation-8-ways-to-identify-and-confront-residential-school-denialism-164692">residential school denialism</a> — does not invalidate the fact that there is a general scholarly agreement, or broad consensus, that the term genocide applies to Canada.</p>
<p>Claiming dissent and demanding debate from the margins is a common strategy used by <a href="https://activehistory.ca/2019/06/canadas-non-conversation-about-genocide/">genocide denialists</a> to muddy the waters and make widely accepted claims seem less certain. It is meant to shake peoples’ confidence in the general agreement. </p>
<p>The open letter tries to do this by insisting there is a “lively debate among scholars” when, in reality, there is only minor disagreement within the field, with still a broad consensus coalescing around the applicability of the term genocide in Canada. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wears an orange shirt printed with the definition of genocide printed on the back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427597/original/file-20211020-17-pzera2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman wears a shirt printed with the definition of genocide printed on the back at a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event in Toronto on Sept. 30, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Evan Buhler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What about Canada?</h2>
<p>So, what do genocide scholars say about genocide in Canada? </p>
<p>Reading the open letter, the crux of the “debate” appears to be the guilt or innocence of the Canadian state. The letter implies the latter by emphasizing there is “debate” about the former. However, where disagreement exists in the field is not so much Canada’s guilt, which is not disputed, but rather how to effectively describe the crime. </p>
<p>The few genocide scholars who oppose labelling what Canada did as genocide suggest that the wrongs committed are better referred to as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp-residential-school-genocide-motion-1.6057851">crimes against humanity</a>. According to the field, it is therefore a matter of choosing between two serious criminal charges rather than between guilt and innocence.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-committed-genocide-against-indigenous-peoples-explained-by-the-lawyer-central-to-the-determination-162582">How Canada committed genocide against Indigenous Peoples, explained by the lawyer central to the determination</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>Genocide scholars who suggest that crimes against humanity is the more appropriate terminology point to several reasons. Scholars like <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/cultural-genocide-label-for-residential-schools-has-no-legal-implications-expert-says-1.3110826">William Schabas</a> and <a href="https://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/article/cultural-genocide-legal-label-or-mourning-metaphor/">Payam Akhavan</a> focus on the legal challenges of determining genocide. </p>
<p>Their reasoning includes the fact that Article 2(e) of the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide</a>, which criminalizes “forcibly transferring children of the group to another,” is largely untested in the courts. </p>
<p>They also point to the difficulty of establishing the specific intent required by genocide law. The UN genocide convention provides a narrow conception of what intent means, suggesting there must be a purposeful desire to destroy a group of people for who they are. </p>
<h2>The intent to ‘destroy’</h2>
<p>This notion raises the question of what it means to intend to “destroy” a group. Historian J.R. Miller, a signatory to the open letter, reads this word narrowly as signalling only physical destruction. He argues there was <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/historians-oppose-statement-saying-canada-is-guilty-of-genocide">no plan to physically eradicate Indigenous Peoples</a>. But a group can only exist through cultural relationships between group members, as well as their ability to biologically reproduce. </p>
<p>The UNGC includes acts of biological, cultural and physical destruction. These three primary forms of destruction were originally conceptualized by the creator of the term genocide, Raphael Lemkin. </p>
<p>Lemkin, in fact, contributed a richer notion of <a href="http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/drafts/">cultural genocide</a> to earlier drafts of the UN genocide convention, which included linguistic and spiritual destruction, only to have it excised from the final text at the insistence of settler colonial nations like Canada. “Forcibly transferring children,” however, was preserved. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds a sign that reads 'no pride in genocide'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427598/original/file-20211020-18-8g5jzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People attend a gathering and march to honour Indigenous children, denounce genocide and demand justice after the findings at residential schools in Montréal in July, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fact that “forcibly transferring children” has been rarely tested in court does not mean that it, and the question of cultural genocide more broadly, is not being given serious attention by jurists and scholars. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.icty.org/en/case/krajisnik">in Krajišnik</a> at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2006, the ICTY trial chamber noted that destruction “is not limited to physical or biological destruction of the group’s members.” They added that a group is comprised by bonds between its members. </p>
<p>For this reason, the ICTY trial chamber determined that the “intent to destroy” also includes efforts to destroy a group culturally. These types of statements capture a growing trend in the field of genocide studies whereby acts of cultural destruction are viewed to be as much a threat to the life of the group as acts of biological and physical destruction. </p>
<h2>Truth and reconciliation</h2>
<p>Recent developments in Canada have built on this evolving understanding of genocide. The <a href="https://nctr.ca/records/reports/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada</a>, though its mandate prevented commissioners from examining the legal question of genocide, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-urges-canada-to-confront-cultural-genocide-of-residential-schools-1.3096229">used the concept of cultural genocide</a> to acknowledge the importance of culture to the continuity of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>The National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls had freer rein and provided a <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Supplementary-Report_Genocide.pdf">sophisticated legal analysis of genocide in Canada</a> that injects Indigenous law and gendered perspectives into the conversation.</p>
<h2>Unsettling the colonial status quo</h2>
<p>In the end, a broad scholarly consensus has indeed emerged in recent years that agrees on the applicability of genocide in the Canadian context. Scholars increasingly view genocide more broadly as a process, and they understand human groups as socio-cultural, biological and physical entities that may be placed under threat through multiple processes of intended destruction. </p>
<p>Canadians committed to putting truth before reconciliation should ignore genocide “debaters” and denialists seemingly intent on hijacking the conversation and misrepresenting genocide scholarship to defend Canada’s reputation and the colonial status quo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Carleton receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Woolford has received funding from Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and Fulbright.
I am a member of the Board of Directors for the Assiniboia Indian Residential School Legacy Group.</span></em></p>A better understanding of what most genocide scholars believe can help people understand how Canada’s Indian Residential School system fits with the definition of genocide.Sean Carleton, Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Indigenous Studies, University of ManitobaAndrew Woolford, Professor, Sociology & Criminology, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1597932021-10-24T12:25:28Z2021-10-24T12:25:28ZWho decides what’s essential? The importance of Indigenous ceremony during COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427273/original/file-20211019-16-yydnbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4594%2C3055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At the beginning of the 12-day celebration of life ceremony, Elder Wendy Phillips performs a smudge.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Josh Lyon)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown in September 2020, Ojibway Elder Wendy Phillips and her partner, Mark Phillips conducted an in-person 12-day celebration of life ceremony at their home near Havelock, Ont., despite public health recommendations dictating otherwise. </p>
<p>Indigenous <a href="https://fulcrum.bookstore.ipgbook.com/god-is-red-products-9781555914981.php">ceremonies have been central to Indigenous health</a> and <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison-books/9780803275720/">well-being since time immemorial</a>. Despite the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml">genocidal policies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240">practices exercised by Canada</a>, these ceremonies continue to be an important part of life and sustaining good health for many. </p>
<p>In March 2020, federal and provincial governments announced lockdowns — provinces began <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-suspend-sweat-lodges-pipe-ceremonies-1.5504541">prohibiting communal services and social gatherings and in-person contact was discouraged</a>. In September 2020, the Ontario government announced further restrictions to social gatherings as well as ceremonial and religious gatherings. And those found in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-statistics-september-17-1.5727727">violation could face up to $10,000 in fines</a>.</p>
<p>While COVID-19 exacerbated many of the health disparities Indigenous people face, everyday actions of land-based regenerative resurgence, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1177180120968156">including some ceremonies, continued</a>.</p>
<p>Teachings that Elder Phillips and her partner received from their elders about the 12-day celebration of life ceremony, was that it had to be performed, every four years, no matter what. No matter the weather, no matter the situation — with ideally 64 people — regardless of western conventions of public health and politics. </p>
<p>Was this determination to continue with the ceremony an <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12471">act of Indigenous resistance and resurgence</a> and did it reflect reassertion of nationhood and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.200852">self-determination seen elsewhere throughout the pandemic</a>? </p>
<p>This was a question our research team wanted to explore.</p>
<h2>Centring the voice of ceremonialists</h2>
<p>Led by Elder Phillips, Ojibway, Bald Eagle Clan from Wasauksing First Nation, we are a culturally diverse group of Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee elders and knowledge keepers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers who were concerned about the potential impacts disrupting ceremony would have on Indigenous Peoples’ health and well-being. We asked those who participated in the ceremony: what is the right thing to do?</p>
<p>Our aim was to listen to ceremonialists who chose to continue despite the provincial government’s rules and public health directives, including directives from Indigenous health authorities (like the <a href="https://www.fnha.ca/about/news-and-events/news/covid-19-advisory-on-sweat-lodges-and-potlatches">COVID-19 Advisory on Sweat Lodges and Potlatches</a>) in recognition that Indigenous autonomy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.200852">over ceremony has been historically criminalized</a> and is all too often silenced.</p>
<p>The ceremonialists we spoke with talked about how crucial ceremony is as a way of life and well-being, and for some even lifesaving: “Ceremony actually saved my life. It saved my son’s life. It’s saving our people,” said one of the participants. </p>
<p>Although extra precautions and COVID-19 considerations were made — including both Indigenous medicines and consideration for public health recommendations — it was clear that despite the pandemic, taking part in ceremony was essential. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lodge is shown with a fire in the middle, people sit in a circle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427274/original/file-20211019-25-11cu0jy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ceremonialists say ceremony can be lifesaving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Josh Lyon)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ceremony helps people stay connected</h2>
<p>We asked participants to explain why ceremony was important. They talked about identifying ceremony as a way to connect with self and identity, as well as family and community. Being involved in ceremony gave them a sense of connection and belonging within the colonial Canadian context of forced disconnection from culture and community via state annihilation attempts (like <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/intergenerational-trauma-and-residential-schools">residential schools</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop">the ‘60s scoop</a> and <a href="https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/movementtowardsreconciliation/chapter/the-indigenous-child-welfare-system/">the child welfare system</a>). </p>
<p>Ceremony was identified as safe space to heal from intergenerational trauma. One of the participants said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What really brings me here is working on myself, being the best person I can be, being the best Anishinaabe, best <em>nijiwakin</em> (father) and best <em>shomis</em> (grandfather) that I can be … this is something my parents couldn’t give me because of residential school and intergenerational trauma and being taught not to practice ceremonies.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition to the individual and community healing part of ceremony, many also voiced a sense of responsibility for the continuation of ceremony and traditional knowledge. </p>
<p>This sense of responsibility was expressed in terms of honouring their ancestors’ historical struggle to protect this knowledge and way of life, as well as ensuring it continues for future generations. “These are important ceremonies for us, and this is important for our well-being and the well-being of future generations,” said one of the participants. “This is why we try to continue to ensure that this knowledge and traditions can continue.”</p>
<h2>Provincial restriction caused frustration and anxiety</h2>
<p>When it came to provincial restrictions, which were intensified during the celebration of life ceremony, participants voiced both frustration at the interference in their way of life, and some anxiety about the potential for police intervention and/or fines. They all however remained unwavering in their commitment to continue participating. </p>
<p>Most often, frustrations were expressed in terms of the historical and ongoing colonial relationship with the government, and ongoing battle to protect Indigenous ways of being. “This isn’t the first time that going to ceremony gets you fined. It’s happened before but I’m following through with what I believe and the faith I have,” said one of the participants.</p>
<p>The federal government banned Indigenous Peoples from conducting their own spiritual ceremonies from 1884 to 1951; fines and prison sentences were the consequences if caught. This aspect of the Indian Act <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/potlatch">was known as the Potlatch Ban</a> because that ceremony, in particular, was deemed “anti-Christian, reckless and wasteful.” Despite such racist and repressive policies, the Potlatch and other ceremonies were never entirely suppressed and have been practised openly since the ban.</p>
<p>One participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The fine that they are implementing, it might as well be a million dollars. I can’t afford it, but I’m not leaving either. I’m staying. These ceremonies are important. Ceremony has given me quality of life.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds a saw as she builds a lodge. The image is closeup, you can see her jacket (red), gloves (yellow)" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427277/original/file-20211019-13-dtv0g8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many ceremonialists say it is their responsibility to continue with ceremony and pass on traditional knowledge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wiisemis King-Phillips)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Should Indigenous communities continue to fear repercussions at the hands of the government and police for upholding their traditional ways?</p>
<p>During this pandemic, Indigenous communities have <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-with-so-much-as-risk-we-couldnt-just-wait-for-help-indigenous/">reasserted nationhood and their desires for self-determination</a>. However, the government continues to signal that it is not ready to move beyond its colonial relationship through blanket restrictions put in place by the government without regard for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/efforts-underway-indigenous-ceremonies-essential-services-1.5847779">the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or consultation with Indigenous people themselves</a>. </p>
<p>Pandemic or not, can we move toward a relationship with the Crown where Indigenous nations are sovereign with the power and authority to decide how to best protect their citizens? So decisions can be rooted in <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19/indigenous-peoples-covid-19-report.html#a1">culturally safe and community-led solutions</a>? </p>
<p>Indigenous nations are best suited to understand these essential needs, not simply when it comes to protecting their citizens, but also honouring the past and protecting future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Mashford-Pringle receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Institute for Health Research, and eCampus Ontario.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Castleden receives funding from CIHR, SSHRC, and the Canada Research Chairs Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Calabretta receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Hill, Jodi John, Mark Dockstator, and Wendy Phillips do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Was participating in ceremony despite pandemic restrictions an act of Indigenous resistance and resurgence and did it reflect reassertion of nationhood and self-determination?Jodi John, Ph.D. Candidate, Geography and Planning, Queen's University, OntarioAngela Mashford-Pringle, Assistant Professor/Associate Director, Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, University of TorontoHeather Castleden, Professor and Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health, School of Public Administration, University of VictoriaJanice Hill, Associate Vice-Principal (Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation), Queen's University, OntarioMarc Calabretta, Research Program Manager, Health, Environment, and Communities Research Lab, Queen's University, OntarioMark Dockstator, Associate Professor, Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies, Trent UniversityWendy Phillips, Elder in Residence, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661512021-09-26T12:17:58Z2021-09-26T12:17:58ZReckoning with the truths of unmarked graves of Indigenous children, education systems must take action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422433/original/file-20210921-17-a9l90h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4019%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A temporary memorial for Canada's residential schools is blessed by Indigenous elders in a pipe ceremony in Calgary in August 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The education system needs to help teachers address, repair and heal education towards and beyond reconciliation.</p>
<p>“<em>It’s clear that there will be more <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8074453/indigenous-residential-schools-canada-graves-map/">unmarked graves found at residential schools</a>, but what are we (educators) supposed to do? How are we supposed to fix this?</em>” </p>
<p>These were questions posed by non-Indigenous teachers during a workshop we delivered in June on anti-Indigenous racism in curriculum to promote <a href="https://www.icscollaborative.com/">Indigenous cultural safety</a> in schools.</p>
<p>When we hear these types of questions, we are reminded of our research that has documented a range of <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/mje/2018-v53-n2-mje04477/1058397ar">affective responses by settler educators</a> in understanding <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2021/sep/06/canada-residential-schools-indigenous-children-cultural-genocide-map">Canada’s history of genocide against Indigenous children and communities, committed in the name of education through the Indian Residential School (IRS) system</a>. </p>
<p>Even as the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/canadas-residential-schools-were-a-horror/">number of unmarked graves continues to rise</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-flags-to-remain-at-half-mast-residential-schools-1.6170504">school flags remain lowered</a>, there is little to no direction by the education system — by ministry officials, school district leaders or teacher federation advocates — on how to respond, process and educate in light of these tragedies and ensuing mass grief. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A little girl wears a northern lights mask and holds a butterfly on her hand" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422432/original/file-20210921-27-1lv1aak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A butterfly prepares to take off on the hand of a young girl at Tsuut'ina First Nation’s butterfly release in honour of the children and survivors of the residential school system in Sept. 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With no official mandate from ministries for systemic reform through training programs, regular discussion forums and gatherings, the education system runs the risk of cultivating more apathy and burnout among teachers, more ignorance from Canadians and <a href="https://www.macewan.ca/wcm/MacEwanNews/NEWS_RESEARCH_MILNE_20">more harms of settler colonialism and anti-Indigenous racism in schools</a>. </p>
<p>This silence by the education system is potent and the message clear: <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">reckoning with genocidal truths and the ongoing impacts of these harms in present day classrooms</a> is not a priority but rather a personal decision left up to the individual teacher. </p>
<h2>Settler teachers cannot tackle reconciliation alone</h2>
<p>Many teachers long for a transformation of the education system towards more respectful relationships and equitable partnerships with Indigenous communities. They hope for a systemic effort that will concretely improve Indigenous students’ lives and make <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/30/self-educating-and-speaking-out-essential-for-reconciliation-indigenous-lecturer-says.html">reconciliation a daily commitment</a> in schools. </p>
<p>But when teachers receive little to no direction from their ministries or school boards, they are alone in classrooms, disconnected from their peers in processing these colonial atrocities and many revert to an individualized null response. </p>
<p>Some are reluctant to develop genuine relationships with Indigenous students or make connections with Indigenous Peoples, preferring to be <a href="https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/indigenizationinstructors/chapter/summary/">a perfect stranger</a>. Others become hesitant to engage with or teach the difficult knowledge of colonialism, preferring <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630">settler innocence</a>. While others centre themselves as the baffled teacher, unable to critically examine their own complicity in the <a href="https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/9519/7377">settler colonial structure</a> of education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hands hold an archive photo of St. Paul IRS, it is a 'class-type' photo with nuns flanking the students as well as one perched in the centre" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422446/original/file-20210921-25-gaatmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An IRS survivor holds a photograph of the 1932 St. Paul Indian Residential Schools girls class, in North Vancouver.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does the education system need to do?</h2>
<p>The education system must resist shying away from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/esc.0.0169">discussing its legacies, truths and responsibilities</a> by coming together to talk with Indigenous educators, leaders and advocates. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1666255">Decolonizing education</a> is a long process that requires systemic shifts to address ongoing cultural harms, anti-Indigenous racism and oppression against Indigenous children. </p>
<p>This systemic approach requires a co-ordinated mandate by education ministries, school boards/districts, teacher colleges and teacher federations <a href="https://www.afn.ca/the-healing-path-forward/">to take a healing path forward with Indigenous partners</a>, to move towards a collaborative, relational and culturally responsive system that is accountable to Indigenous Peoples and communities. </p>
<p>Settler educators need to decentre themselves in these partnerships so Indigenous people can speak more, take up space and reclaim their place and authority for determining what is best for Indigenous children. They should be determining what all students need to learn on Indigenous Land.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People march down the streets of Ottawa, wearing orange, ribbon skirts and holding hand drums. A woman at the front stands with her hand raised into a fist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422453/original/file-20210921-13-1re0mn6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People march along Wellington Street during a rally to demand an independent investigation into Canada’s crimes against Indigenous Peoples, including those at Indian Residential Schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Former senator and Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) chair Murray Sinclair has emphasized that <a href="https://www.nccie.ca/reconciliation-and-nccie/">education is the way towards reconciliation</a>, and we believe <a href="https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2011.v17i3.71">teacher education is the means for disrupting the system’s ignorance, settler colonialism and white normativity</a>. But education can only implement the <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf">TRC’s Calls to Action</a> when it acts as a collective system focused on transformation. </p>
<p>Teachers cannot do this transformation alone in their classrooms. We need to hold ministries, school districts and teacher federations to account for space and funding to <a href="https://www.sanyas.ca/training">train the whole system to recognize anti-Indigenous racism</a>, and <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/Supporting-Success-for-Indigenous-Students.pdf">address ongoing harms against Indigenous students</a>. </p>
<p>If the leadership of ministries, school districts and teacher unions aren’t willing to discuss the unmarked graves of Indigenous children as legacies of colonialism and genocide that continue in education, then teachers will individually turn off, drop out and end up silent on these harms that continue to be reproduced in schools.</p>
<p>When ministries are not mandating this work of reckoning, repairing and healing by the whole education system, the momentum for teacher accountability in education-as-reconciliation risks being lost, buried and forgotten.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Korteweg has received funding from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pauline Tennent and Tesa Fiddler do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Here’s what the education system needs to do to help teachers address, repair and heal education towards and beyond reconciliation.Lisa Korteweg, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Lakehead UniversityPauline Tennent, Manager, Centre for Human Rights Research, University of ManitobaTesa Fiddler, Indigenous community partner, Coordinator of Indigenous Education at Thunder Bay Catholic District School BoardLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1634152021-08-19T13:55:12Z2021-08-19T13:55:12ZIndian Residential School findings: How diverse Indigenous communities deal with grief and healing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414859/original/file-20210805-13-vamcse.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C17%2C5742%2C3918&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People stand on Parliament Hill alongside a memorial for children who died at Indian Residential Schools. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent “discoveries” of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/unmarked-graves-found-canadian-former-residential-school-sites-2021-07-06/">unmarked graves of children at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools (IRS)</a> is a stark reminder of an unspoken or ignored history between Indigenous Peoples and Canada.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/truth-before-reconciliation-8-ways-to-identify-and-confront-residential-school-denialism-164692">Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism</a>
</strong>
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<p>The reactions by many Canadians to these events is a strong indicator that despite all of the heightened awareness of the residential school system, there is little understanding how these institutions affected communities and families. </p>
<p>Often relying on assumptions and stereotypes, some Canadians show little effort to learn about the different perspectives and experiences held by Indigenous people. This encourages many non-Indigenous people to support measures they believe have the approval of all Indigenous people. But communities are not monolithic; different opinions and experiences exist. </p>
<h2>From the Bryce Report to RCAP</h2>
<p>The findings outlined in <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 2015 Final Report</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/truth-and-reconciliation-canadians-see-value-in-report-skeptical-government-will-act-1.3144271">shocked Canada</a>. For many, this was the first time that they heard of this truth, despite previous reports that flagged the horrors of residential schools. </p>
<p><a href="https://archive.org/details/reportonindiansc00bryc">The Bryce Report from 1907</a> spoke about the harsh realities of IRS, and the <a href="https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/royal-commission-aboriginal-peoples/Pages/final-report.aspx">Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples</a> from 1996 called IRS: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… an attempt by successive governments to determine the fate of Aboriginal people in Canada by appropriating and reshaping their future in the form of thousands of children who were removed from their homes and communities …” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2015, TRC commissioner Marie Wilson declared that, “It is the survivors’ telling of their stolen childhoods that has shaken us all awake.” </p>
<h2>A different awakening</h2>
<p>Today, there is a different awakening and it’s happening in Indigenous circles. It is a realization of lives and futures lost. It is a resurgence of pain and grief experienced by families and communities that <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7996606/cranbrook-residential-school-graves-chief/">knew of these unmarked graves</a>. </p>
<p>It is a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7910218/residential-schools-catholic-church-apology/">rekindling of anger toward religious entities</a>, specifically the Catholic Church, that had a role in running these schools. And it is an unveiling of the complicated dynamics within communities, especially those with members who are part of the church. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ashes and debris are all that remains after a fire at a church in Saskatchewan. Debris with sunset in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414863/original/file-20210805-27-fmae9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ashes and debris is all that remains after a fire at the former Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church near Orolow, Sask., in July 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As someone who grew up in the Catholic tradition in Kahnawake, Que., and now teaches in a theological school, there’s an inner conflict as I reflect on being part of a faith tradition that contributed to a process that caused such pain. </p>
<p>There are many Indigenous people who believe Indigenous people should not be Christians, furthering tensions. Instead of coming together, communities are becoming divided — some want to react and take action, while others want to deal and heal privately. </p>
<p>I recognize the anger toward the church, but struggle with some of the reactions, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8urq5GWvn1Q">such as the burning of buildings</a>. In response Indigenous leaders, such as former Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7996421/canada-church-burning-indigenous-leaders-reactions/">have called for communities to find a better way</a>. </p>
<h2>Lasting impacts and a path towards healing</h2>
<p>Although there has been a growing awareness and eagerness to learn, I believe that many non-Indigenous people don’t have the in-depth, community understanding to know that IRS legacy, findings and lasting colonialism can incite various impacts and reactions from Indigenous people.</p>
<p>Many institutions, such as schools and churches, have Indigenous people within them who are trying to address these impacts and make change. The work is slow and doesn’t always produce immediate transformation. So an action, such as <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/egerton-ryerson-s-statue-brought-down-following-demonstration-1.5458599?cache=%2F7.304539">tearing down a statue</a> or <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/not-in-solidarity-with-us-indigenous-leaders-call-for-church-arsons-to-stop-1.5497911">setting a church on fire</a>, may provide some sense of satisfaction, however that doesn’t change the systems that contribute to the current problems in many communities. Problems like <a href="https://theconversation.com/tip-of-the-iceberg-the-true-state-of-drinking-water-advisories-in-first-nations-156190">a lack of clean drinking water</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-an-indigenous-doctor-i-see-the-legacy-of-residential-schools-and-ongoing-racism-in-todays-health-care-162048">inequities within health</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-contributes-to-poor-attendance-of-indigenous-students-in-alberta-schools-new-study-141922">education systems</a> and <a href="https://www.povertyinstitute.ca/poverty-canada">higher levels of poverty</a>. </p>
<p>One may ask: How do we proceed? A fair question. I look to Chief Cadmus Delorme from Cowessess First Nation, who offers these words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We all must put down our ignorance and accidental racism of not addressing the truth that this country has with Indigenous people. We are not asking for pity, but we are asking for understanding. We need time to heal and this country must stand by us.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Impulsive reactions will not provide any long-term solutions. It is time to move away from this way of dealing with issues and start by becoming more reflective, acknowledge that Indigenous communities and people aren’t monolithic, that we all heal, grieve and deal with tragedy differently. And to stand with us, Canadians must listen and understand, give time and space.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous people and communities are not monolithic. How they react to and deal with tragedy will be different. Acknowledging that will help us all heal.Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream, Theology) and Special Advisor on Indigenous Initiatives, Victoria University, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1652222021-08-12T12:25:51Z2021-08-12T12:25:51ZHow Native students fought back against abuse and assimilation at US boarding schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414849/original/file-20210805-23-16hrt5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C16%2C3618%2C2600&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Native American students at the Carlisle Indian School, circa 1899.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/native-amercian-students-study-at-their-desks-and-line-up-news-photo/640483015">Library of Congress/Corbis Historical Collection/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Indigenous community members and archaeologists <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/churches-reckon-with-traumatic-legacy-of-boarding-schools">continue to discover</a> unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the sites of Canadian residential schools, the United States is reckoning with its own history of off-reservation boarding schools. </p>
<p>In July 2021, nine Sicangu Lakota students who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania were disinterred and <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/now-theyre-home">returned to their homelands at Whetstone Bay</a> in South Dakota.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black-and-white portrait of young man seated in chair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415028/original/file-20210806-13-c9bs0x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Ernest Knocks Off.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/ernest-knocks-version-2-c1880">John N. Choate/Cumberland County Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of these young people was Ernest Knocks Off. Ernest, who came from the Sicangu Oyate or Burnt Thigh Nation, was among the first group of students to arrive at Carlisle, in 1879. He entered school at age 18 and attempted to run away soon after arriving. He ultimately <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/potentially-terminal-illness-ernest-knocks">went on a hunger strike</a> and died of <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/report-deaths-maud-little-girl-and-ernest-knocks">complications of diphtheria on Dec. 14, 1880.</a></p>
<p>My new book “<a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/3980-writing-their-bodies">Writing Their Bodies: Restoring Rhetorical Relations at the Carlisle Indian School</a>” explores how Indigenous children resisted English-only education at Carlisle, which became the prototype for both Indian schools across the U.S. and <a href="http://rschools.nan.on.ca/article/the-davin-report-1879-1120.asp#_ftn1">residential schools in Canada</a>. </p>
<p>While digging into archives of Carlisle students’ writing, I found that young people like Ernest were not passive victims of U.S. colonization. Instead, they fought – in Ernest’s case, to his death – to retain their languages and cultures as the assimilationist experiment in education unfolded. </p>
<h2>‘Unspoken traumas’</h2>
<p>U.S. Army Gen. Richard Henry Pratt opened the government-funded Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879. Following his model, more than <a href="https://boardingschoolhealing.org/list/">350 government-funded</a> and church-run boarding schools later opened across the U.S. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition estimates that <a href="https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/">hundreds of thousands</a> of young Native people attended these schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first students were <a href="https://www.oupress.com/books/9779183/battlefield-and-classroom">recruited by Pratt and sent by their nations</a> in hopes that they could learn English to continue fighting against treaty violations by U.S. settlers. In 1891, attendance became <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1626&context=ailr">compulsory under federal law</a>.</p>
<p>Boarding schools sought to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Western culture by separating them from their communities. The schools forced them to learn English and practice Christianity and trained them to work in a capitalist economy – often as <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803214804/">servants and laborers</a> on farms and in the households of white people. </p>
<p>Students experienced <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/traumatic-legacy-indian-boarding-schools/584293/">physical abuse, sexual violence and hunger</a>, and hundreds died of <a href="https://heard.org/boardingschool/health/">diseases like tuberculosis</a> that spread rampantly in institutional settings.</p>
<p>Canada’s national <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> identified <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/churches-reckon-with-traumatic-legacy-of-boarding-schools">3,201 children who died in Canadian residential schools</a>. No such estimate exists in the U.S., where a formal reckoning has yet to occur. However, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/secretary-deb-haaland">a member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation</a>, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-announces-federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative">has pledged </a> to “address the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools to shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past.”</p>
<p>Even as Indigenous students faced teachers and a government trying to replace their cultures, languages and identities, they resisted the assimilationist education. Their strategies were at times blatant, but often covert. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tombstone for Samuel Flying Horse, who died May 11, 1893." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414852/original/file-20210805-25-681vjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tombstone of a young Oglala Lakota student buried at the old Carlisle Indian School cemetery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tombstones-of-young-indians-are-decorated-with-small-tokens-news-photo/1195087091">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis News Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Running away</h2>
<p>Ernest may have been one of the first boarding school students to run away, but he certainly wasn’t the last. Scholars have found that <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/away-from-home-american-indian-boarding-school-experiences-1879-2000/oclc/454120244">running away was a tactic</a> used by students in boarding schools across the U.S. and Canada. It became such a significant shared experience that celebrated Native authors such as <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43079/indian-boarding-school-the-runaways">Louise Erdrich</a> and <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/reviews/990418.18rutalt.html">Leslie Marmon Silko</a> capture this act of resistance in their writings. </p>
<p>Running away was a way for students to communicate their rejection of assimilationist education and to fight their separation from their homeland and community. Runaways sometimes succeeded and got back home. But I believe that even when they were forcibly returned to school, running away represented courage and reminded the other students to keep fighting. </p>
<h2>Plains Sign Talk</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.42">Plains Sign Talk</a> is a sign language that serves as a lingua franca for trade and diplomacy among the Pawnee, Shoshone, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow and Siouan peoples in the Southern Plains. It became a powerful tool at Carlisle, where teachers demanded that students give up their languages for another shared tongue – English. Plains Sign Talk was a way for students to communicate with one another and across tribes that was unintelligible to their teachers. </p>
<p>Carlisle teachers underestimated the importance of Plains Sign Talk, viewing it as a primitive form of communication that students would leave behind as they learned English. When Pratt and his colleagues witnessed students using it, they created a <a href="http://constell8cr.com/issue-2/the-historical-work-of-cultural-rhetorics-constellating-indigenous-deaf-and-english-only-literacies/">new curriculum based on techniques</a> used to teach deaf students. They did not realize that students were using the sign language <a href="http://constell8cr.com/issue-2/the-historical-work-of-cultural-rhetorics-constellating-indigenous-deaf-and-english-only-literacies/">to circumvent the English-only policy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Senior woman stands beside a makeshift memorial of flowers and other offerings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414853/original/file-20210805-307-p91xa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamloops Indian Residential School former student Evelyn Camille, 82, at a makeshift memorial to the 215 children whose remains were discovered buried near the facility in British Columbia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kamloops-indian-residential-school-survivor-evelyn-camille-news-photo/1233277614">Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pictographic writing</h2>
<p>Students also drew on <a href="https://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_work/6/">Plains pictography</a> to tell their stories. Plains tribes originally painted pictographs – elements of a graphic writing system – on buffalo hides to document victories in battle and record “<a href="http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8993">winter counts</a>,” or annual historical records. After increased contact with settlers, many tribes began to document pictographic histories in ledger books. These texts served as communal histories that would prompt oral retellings of battles and other significant events. </p>
<p>Students at Carlisle <a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/3980-writing-their-bodies">regularly used pictographs</a> on slates or chalkboards. On June 25, 1880, for example, a Cheyenne student who was renamed Rutherford B. Hayes at school drew a <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/slate-showing-student-work-names-r-b-hayes-and-john-williams-version-1-1880">pictograph of a horse and rider</a> on his slate. He labeled the image John Williams – the Carlisle name of an Arapaho boy who was his classmate and friend. </p>
<p>I argue that these pictographic records show how some students understood their time at school in the context of their developing warrior identities, underscoring their desire to act bravely and return home to recount their stories for their nations’ collective memory.</p>
<h2>Speaking Lakota</h2>
<p>When students spoke their languages, they <a href="https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/ccc/podcasts/klotz">faced harsh penalties</a>. This included corporal punishment, incarceration in the campus barracks and public shaming in the school newspaper. </p>
<p>Pratt and his supervisors at the Bureau of Indian Affairs hoped that they could break up tribes by disrupting the transmission of language and culture from one generation to the next. <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4929">By destroying tribal identities</a>, they hoped to take land in communally held reservations and guaranteed by treaties. For U.S. settlers to gain access, the land would have to shift to a private property system. Boarding schools thus became part of the federal Indian policy later codified as the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fed-indian-policy">1887 Dawes Act</a>. </p>
<p>Although students were supposed to speak only English, they began to learn one another’s languages as well. Lakota, or Sioux, became particularly popular, as it was a majority language in the school’s early years when many students came from the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations. </p>
<p>In 1881, Pratt was troubled that students were still speaking their languages two years into their term. When student Stephen K. White Bear was found “talking Indian,” he received a common punishment, which was writing a composition about his discretion. In his essay <a href="http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/all/files/docs-publications/SchoolNews_v02n08_0.pdf">“Speak Only English”</a> Stephen revealed that “every boy and every girl would like to know how to talk Sioux very much. They do not learn the English language they seem to want to know how to talk Sioux.” </p>
<h2>Seeds of pan-Indian resistance</h2>
<p>As students met peers across nations as geographically far-flung as the Inuit and the Kiowa, they sowed seeds for the pan-Indian resistance movements of the 20th century. From the founding of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.31">Society of American Indians</a> in 1911 through <a href="https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-american-indian-movement-1968-1978?tags=migration">the American Indian Movement</a> of the 1960s and ‘70s, Native activists unified for advocacy and cultural revitalization. <a href="https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/1863/search-for-an-american-indian-identity-the/">Scholars argue</a> that these movements can trace their roots to intertribal communities of solidarity that were built in the boarding schools. </p>
<p>The outcry against boarding schools that we see today across Canada and the U.S. reflects not only a shared experience of trauma, but a longstanding solidarity among Indigenous peoples working together to maintain land, language, culture and identity in the face of oppression at the hands of Euro-Americans. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Klotz received funding from CCCC/NCTE Emergent Researcher Award including a grant of $10,000 for monograph project, Writing Their Bodies: Restoring Rhetorical Relations at the Carlisle Indian School, 2016</span></em></p>Ernest Knocks Off was 18 when he arrived at the Carlisle boarding school in 1879. He was one of many young Native people who fought – in his case, to the death – to retain their language and culture.Sarah Klotz, Assistant Professor of English, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642172021-07-22T18:20:19Z2021-07-22T18:20:19ZIn the wake of Indian Residential School findings, how can we cheer for Canada at the Olympics?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412870/original/file-20210723-19-nhxjqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3544%2C2344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Team Canada flag-bearers Miranda Ayim and Nathan Hirayama carry the Canadian flag at the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Olympics offer Canadians an opportunity to experience a collective sense of national unity and pride. But in the wake of discoveries of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-saskatchewan-first-nation-discovers-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-at/">thousands of unmarked graves</a> at former Indian Residential Schools across the country, this year’s Olympics will feel undeniably different for many Canadians. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-more-shocking-residential-schools-discoveries-non-indigenous-people-must-take-action-161965">Amid more shocking residential schools discoveries, non-Indigenous people must take action</a>
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<p>Canadians will watch the Tokyo Games on television less than a month after <a href="https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/shame-on-canada-thousands-attend-cancel-canada-day-rally-on-parliament-hill-1.5493234">many participated</a> in “Cancel Canada Day” rallies and protesters tore down statues of colonial figures in <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/renewed-calls-to-cancel-canada-day-in-wake-of-residential-school-gravesite-discovery-1.5459568">Toronto</a>, <a href="https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/victoria-statue-of-captain-cook-pulled-down-thrown-into-harbour-1.5494067">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57693683">Winnipeg.</a> </p>
<p>In the wake of all this, settlers such as myself must ask ourselves: How can we cheer for our country after all that’s been happening? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Headless statue lying on the ground covered in protest signs and red paint" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411106/original/file-20210713-15-1unwywy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of Queen Victoria in Winnipeg was overturned and vandalized on Canada Day during demonstrations concerning Indigenous children who died at residential schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Geraldine Malone)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Audiences should use the Tokyo Games to confront the <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">history and persistence of colonialism in Canada</a>. Expressions of patriotism in Canada cannot be neatly separated from <a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/society/article/download/34003/26078/">ongoing colonization and systemic racism</a>, except through feats of mental gymnastics.</p>
<p>Let’s leave the gymnastics to the athletes competing in Tokyo and, instead, pay attention to the displays of settler colonialism that will happen during the Games.</p>
<p>My research investigates how Canadian-hosted sporting events, like the Olympics, shape national identity. I am currently writing a book, <em>Commodifying the Nation: Sport, Commercialism and Settler Colonialism in Canada</em>. In it, I argue that settlers often avoid recognizing uncomfortable truths about the nation when they express their patriotism. These truths include the mistreatment and assimilation of Indigenous children in residential schools. </p>
<h2>Reminders of settler colonialism</h2>
<p>There is a tendency to focus on large, highly visible objects that represent Canada’s colonial identity, like the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/egerton-ryerson-statue-caledonia-land-back-lane-1.6059513">recently toppled statue of Egerton Ryerson</a>, who played a major role in the establishment of the residential school system in Canada. But this identity is also recalled in the various ways settler Canadians express their pride at international sporting events. </p>
<p>One reminder of colonialism will be embodied — literally — by Canadian athletes at the Games who will be wearing outfits designed by the <a href="https://olympic.ca/2020/08/10/team-canada-and-hudsons-bay-unveil-tokyo-2020-kit-2/">Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)</a>, which has been the Canadian Olympic team’s <a href="http://www.hbcheritage.ca/history/social-history/hbc-and-sports">official outfitter</a> since 2013.</p>
<p>Besides Team Canada’s outfits being created by the company, its iconic “point blanket” logo featuring coloured stripes appears on the outfits, along with national symbols like the maple leaf.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Waist-up shot of two women wearing red zip-up jackets with CANADA spelled across the front." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411107/original/file-20210713-25-1yatwbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gymnast Ellie Black, left, and Brooklyn Moors wear their official Olympic jackets during an event presenting the Canadian Olympic Artistic Gymnastics team for the Tokyo 2020 games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>HBC’s logo calls attention to its historical contributions to settler nation-building practices in Canada. Created by royal charter in 1670, King Charles II of England <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP6CH1PA5LE.html">gave HBC the authority</a> to trade and negotiate treaties with Indigenous groups and to defend territory from them.</p>
<p>Employees exchanged point blankets for beaver pelts supplied by Indigenous peoples, making them important items of the early fur trade. By conflating Team Canada’s outfits with HBC merchandise, this creates an association between the company and patriotic sentiments. It also contributes to the erasure of the nation’s history of colonialism. </p>
<p>Activists drew attention to this history in 2010 when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics. They argued that Canadians who wore the HBC-produced Team Canada red and white mittens had “<a href="https://web.resist.ca/%7Etarsandsfreebc/downloads/hbc.pdf">blood on their hands</a>” and were “wearing Canada’s history of colonialism.” </p>
<p>The ubiquity of HBC-branded Olympic clothing can productively draw attention to the history activists called on audiences to recognize back in 2010. </p>
<h2>The present day</h2>
<p>It would be a mistake to think that only the past is being obscured in collective displays of patriotism. </p>
<p>The reality that settler colonialism persists in Canada is too easily disavowed in celebratory representations of the nation. Disavowal is a particular type of forgetting. It involves knowing facts but failing to recognize the full significance or meaning of such facts. </p>
<p>When we disavow the injustices occurring around us, we fail to stop them from continuing. The example of anti-Olympic activists who protested the 2010 Games is once again instructive. They made it impossible to completely disavow the fact that the Games were being held on unceded Indigenous territory that is not governed by treaty. </p>
<p>Presently, we must not forget that the Canadian government and institutions continue to engage in practices that disadvantage Indigenous peoples and infringe upon their rights, such as the federal government’s <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/about-us">chronic under-funding of Indigenous child and family services</a> that’s led to an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/08/canada-indigenous-children-deaths-residential-schools">over-representation of Indigenous children</a> in the child welfare system and the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-its-all-too-common-for-indigenous-patients-to-face-racism-and-neglect/">sytemic racism</a> present in Canada’s health-care system. </p>
<h2>What to do while cheering on Team Canada</h2>
<p>I am not calling for settlers to wallow in guilt. Now is not the time to focus on how settlers feel. It is instead time to confront the reality of the consequences of residential schools and the <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/sixties_scoop/">‘60s Scoop.</a> </p>
<p>Land dispossession and systemic racism continue to exist and the historic mistreatment of Indigenous peoples is still ongoing.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-canadians-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-lasting-effects-of-residential-schools-161968">Why many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Canadians should start by holding our governments and institutions accountable, and encourage the implementation of the <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Michael Linklater stands for a photograph at a outdoor basketball court near his home in Saskatoon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411375/original/file-20210715-21-835uvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No self-identified Indigenous athletes will be competing for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics. For years, Nehiyaw (Cree) athlete Michael Linklater of Saskatoon was one of the country’s top 3x3 basketball players. While 3x3 basketball is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo, Canada failed to qualify. Linklater will be a basketball analyst for CBC’s Olympic coverage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Calls 87-91 include telling the national story of Indigenous athletes and supporting Indigenous athletes’ development. </p>
<p>As settlers tune in to watch Canadian athletes compete in Tokyo this summer, they can seek out stories about Indigenous athleticism and leadership in sport because they won’t find any on their screens. No self-identified Indigenous athlete is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/indigenous-athletes-barriers-olympics-1.6061509">competing for Canada this year</a>.</p>
<p>As you wear your red and white and cheer for Canada from the comfort of your home, remember the history this patriotism was built on — and the ongoing colonialism that helps solidify it.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Estee Fresco does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can settler-Canadians cheer for their country at the Tokyo Olympics after the recent discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves of children who attended Indian Residential Schools?Estee Fresco, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645242021-07-21T14:53:50Z2021-07-21T14:53:50ZAfter findings at Indian Residential Schools, settler Canadians shouldn’t hide behind the ‘gothic narrative’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411305/original/file-20210714-13-1rw6iqp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4726%2C3101&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Firefighters walk past the remains of a Catholic church that was on fire, in Morinville, Alta. in June 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AAAA-Hamilton-Report-Illustrations-final.pdf">Canada as an expansive crime scene</a> is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/arts/the-rise-of-indigenous-horror-how-a-fiction-genre-is-confronting-a-monstrous-reality-1.5323428">neither unfamiliar nor disorienting to Indigenous people</a>.</p>
<p>The use of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ground-radar-technology-residential-school-remains-1.6049776">ground-penetrating radar to reveal unmarked graves</a> at or near the sites of former residential schools does what personal narratives of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at residential schools and <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">94 Calls to Action</a> were <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/trc/">seemingly not enough to do</a>. They confront the mainstream discourse of reconciliation with some tougher questions about criminal accountability, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/critics-blast-catholic-church-1.6086030">unpaid debts</a>, <a href="https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/17858045/tdest_id/1618577">settler-state legitimacy</a> and the nature of the ground we stand on.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-more-shocking-residential-schools-discoveries-non-indigenous-people-must-take-action-161965">Amid more shocking residential schools discoveries, non-Indigenous people must take action</a>
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</p>
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<p>If the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ndp-mps-call-for-investigation-into-crimes-against-indigenous-children/">possibility of prosecution</a> on the horizon is something that, up to this point, Canada has managed to render unthinkable, or at most <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/father-johannes-rivoire-charges-stayed-1.5021869">not in the public interest</a>, then what does it mean for <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/thames-valley-board-lowers-all-flags-to-mourn-residential-school-genocide">flags to be lowered as a demonstration of shared grief</a>? Or for ministers to promise support for “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ndp-mps-call-for-investigation-into-crimes-against-indigenous-children/">affected communities</a>” to “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/15846451-survivor-recalls-kamloops-b.c.-residential-school-remains-children">get on with the healing</a>?”</p>
<p>The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report, released six years ago, <a href="https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Volume_1_History_Part_1_English_Web.pdf">established that Canada’s federal government designed and orchestrated the institutionalized genocidal violence of the Indian Residential School (IRS) system</a>.</p>
<p>The location of unmarked graves today highlights some of the limitations of a TRC that did not have the power to subpoena witnesses or documents.</p>
<p>While a TRC working group called the <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Volume_4_Missing_Children_English_Web.pdf">Missing Children and Unmarked Burials Project</a> was formed to research death, disease and disappearances and to collaborate with communities in the identification and commemoration of gravesites, in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7907424/trc-mass-graves-residential-school-federal-funding/">2009 they asked the federal government for additional funds to carry out this work</a>, but the request was denied.</p>
<h2>The figure of a perpetrator</h2>
<p>As this country processes the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/08/canada-indigenous-children-deaths-residential-schools">findings of unmarked graves</a>, public discussion has sketched the figure of a perpetrator around the Catholic Church. It is not hard to see why this figure is taking shape.</p>
<p>It was a specific Catholic order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/discovery-of-kamloops-residential-school-gravesite-like-getting-stabbed-in-the-heart/">that ran the Kamloops</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-graves-unmarked-residential-school-marieval-1.6077797">Marieval</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/penelakut-kuper-residential-school-1.6100201">Kuper Island</a> residential schools, several associated with recently located unmarked graves. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church ran more schools than any other single church denomination.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A statue of the late Pope John Paul II, standing at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, has been vandalized with red paint splatter and handprints" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411304/original/file-20210714-13-1xnmnlp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The defacing of a statue of Pope John Paul follows several other actions taken against Catholic churches in the wake of thousands of unmarked graves of Indigenous children, which were found on the grounds of various residential schools run by the church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rob Drinkwater</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is the unfulfilled <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/national-indigenous-leaders-papal-visit-1.6084245">call for a papal apology</a>, and the failure of Canadian Catholics to raise more than a fifth of the $25 million that was the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/critics-blast-catholic-church-1.6086030">Catholic Church’s share of the compensation</a> to be paid to IRS survivors. This commitment seems to have been abandoned on the basis of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-archbishop-wont-commit-to-asking-pope-for-residential-school-apology/">decentralized church structure and poverty</a>, even though Canadian Catholics have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/catholic-buildings-fundraising-residential-school-survivors-1.6090650">raising millions for new buildings</a>.</p>
<p>The loophole of “best efforts” was written into the language of the <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100015576/1571581687074">Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement</a> (IRSSA). A <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/church-residential-school-compensation-1.6082935">supplementary part of the IRSSA</a> allowed the Catholic Church to pay some of its compensation to survivors in the form of “in-kind services,” such as counselling.</p>
<p>So, it’s not surprising that <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/fire-destroys-catholic-church-north-of-edmonton-rcmp-say-blaze-suspicious-574740042.html">burning Catholic churches</a> dot the landscape of Canada, as if we’ve reached the conclusion of <a href="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/10/18/brief-history-gothic-horror">some classic gothic novel</a> in which the villain is swept away in a fury of wind and fire.</p>
<p>The inferno seems a <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-monk-by-matthew-lewis">fitting end</a> for the criminally hypocritical.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/honour-those-found-at-residential-schools-by-respecting-the-human-rights-of-first-nations-children-today-163643">Honour those found at residential schools by respecting the human rights of First Nations children today</a>
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<p>In Ottawa (unceded Algonquin territory), an imposing monastery constructed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1885 is the centrepiece of a 26-acre <a href="https://greystonevillage.ca/community/">redevelopment project called Greystone Village</a>.</p>
<p>The “Oblates Land” was sold to a developer <a href="https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674fugitive_oblate_priest_joannis_rivoire_must_be_extradited_activists_sa/">in 2014 for $32 million</a>. In 2000, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/priests-ask-taxpayers-to-cover-cost-of-abuses/article4165651/">the order proposed</a> to transfer assets to the federal government in exchange for the government’s assumption of its liability in lawsuits by residential school survivors. That proposal was later replaced by the IRSSA, the terms of which the Catholic Church has failed to fulfil. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Construction on the former 'Oblates Land'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411539/original/file-20210715-25-h9k97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Construction is underway on former ‘Oblates Land,’ which was purchased for $32 million instead of being handed over to the federal government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jennifer Henderson)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Elements of gothic fiction</h2>
<p>But the current focus in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pope-no-apology-residential-school-1.4596439">public culture on the Catholic Church</a> is conveniently narrow and <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/aicrj/article-abstract/42/4/43/212111/Residential-School-Gothic-and-Red-Power-Genre">almost intuitively familiar</a> in its reference to <a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gothic-motifs">gothic narrative conventions</a> — perverse actors, imprisoning structures, a distant time, a culturally distant and <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/011133ar">religious otherness</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7228/manchester/9781784992699.001.0001/upso-9781784992699-chapter-002">Secret burials are the stuff of gothic fiction</a>, but these gothic events actually happened, and in great numbers. Indigenous children were moved to sites of abuse, sadistic discipline and neglect. When the conventions of the gothic genre are deployed to tell the story of residential schools, they produce an inappropriate sense of events being both distant and past. Images of robed priests and church ruins are just too comfortable for many settler Canadians.</p>
<p>For those of us (settlers) implicated in Indigenous displacement and containment through our privileges, the gothic is also a reassuring projection. It wasn’t us; it was the Catholic other.</p>
<p>The gothic narrative about <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-monk-by-matthew-lewis">the moral corruption of the Catholic other</a> has a deep-seated familiarity for much of settler Canada. It is generically familiar and intuitively just-seeming — especially for white, Protestant or secular Canadians, like myself — in its channelling toward the Catholic Church of the complex sensations of horror, disgust, shame and anxiety provoked by the unmarked graves of children. </p>
<p>Taking shelter in this narrative does not have to be deliberate; the genre is a habit of mind — and a self-serving one.</p>
<h2>White capital and its expansion</h2>
<p>The IRS system was made real through a <a href="http://rschools.nan.on.ca/article/the-davin-report-1879-1120.asp">contracting-out arrangement</a>. The churches provided efficiencies: cheap labour and what the <a href="https://dev.nctr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Davin-Report.pdf">Davin Report</a> called the necessary moral and <a href="http://rschools.nan.on.ca/article/the-notion-of-removal-1131.asp">ideological <em>zeal</em></a>.</p>
<p>These capacities were resourced, deliberately, by a settler-state in the service of white capital and its expansion. <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/#Tole">The Enlightenment principle </a> of the separation of church and state is a flexible thing, especially in the federal government’s delegation of the day-to-day running of IRS’s to those with <em>zeal</em> for the work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman sits with her legs crossed surrounded by hundreds of children's shoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411307/original/file-20210714-13-1xbipe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jane Kigutaq, a kindergarten teacher from Arctic Bay now living in Ottawa, protests on Parliament Hill at a ‘Cancel Canada Day’ in response to the discovery of unmarked Indigenous graves at residential schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
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<p>For many settlers, the feelings of outrage at the vile crimes of villains — <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-most-canadians-say-church-to-blame-for-residential-school-tragedies/">ready-made by a familiar narrative genre</a> — may shield more complex emotional knots and investments. Investments both emotional and material, in the land and resources of what we now call Canada. </p>
<p>The argument I am making here is about non-Indigenous reckoning with the mundane and normalized, as well as the truly gothic violence of settler-state institutions and <a href="https://thenarwhal.ca/to-understand-b-c-s-push-for-the-coastal-gaslink-pipeline-think-fracking-lng-canada-and-the-site-c-dam/">ongoing public-private collaborations</a> in Indigenous displacement.</p>
<p>This is not a defence of the Catholic Church in Canada. The <a href="https://nctr.ca/joint-statement-nctr-to-work-with-the-oblates-to-access-residential-school-records/">shielding of individuals, records</a> and funds must stop. But it is incumbent upon settlers not to take cover under the genre of the gothic, which the current focus on the Catholic Church offers. Some of those still-to-be found residential school records are about contracting-out arrangements; they have the hands of the representative institutions of settler Canadians all over them.</p>
<p>As residential schools were just one tool for clearing the land and <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-land-defenders-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-6-transcript-156633">building wealth from its commodification</a>, this isn’t just about the historical wrongs of the Catholic Church or Indigenous Affairs or the state; it’s about the foundations of Canadian capital.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Henderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Secret burials are the stuff of gothic fiction, but these gothic events actually happened to Indigenous children.Jennifer Henderson, Professor of Canadian Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1083052021-07-12T18:18:49Z2021-07-12T18:18:49ZReconciliation and Residential Schools: Canadians need new stories to face a future better than what we inherited<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410481/original/file-20210708-15-r4tzl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C4904%2C3208&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An upside down maple leaf is tucked behind a plaque as people gather on Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a rally to honour the lives lost to residential schools and demand justice for Indigenous peoples, on Canada Day, July 1, 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indigenous leaders have advised Canadians to <a href="https://twitter.com/perrybellegarde/status/1410294015069757451">brace themselves for findings of more unmarked graves of children</a> on the sites of former Indian Residential Schools.</p>
<p>Speaking of the residential school legacies, Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has said: “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/30/self-educating-and-speaking-out-essential-for-reconciliation-indigenous-lecturer-says.html">Education got us into this mess and education will get us out</a>.”</p>
<p>To move forward in a positive way requires Canadians to acknowledge <a href="https://theconversation.com/egerton-ryerson-racist-philosophy-of-residential-schools-also-shaped-public-education-143039">how schooling Indigenous people and settlers has advanced colonization</a>. The problem is, too often, <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-mmiwg-report-spurs-debate-on-the-shifting-definitions-of-genocide-118324">a refusal to know</a>. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-canadians-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-lasting-effects-of-residential-schools-161968">Why many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools</a>
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<p>Any honest historical <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/canada-systemic-racism-history">examination of contemporary relations</a> will challenge many Canadians’ cherished myths about our country, including the belief that Canada is a meritocracy with improving Indigenous-settler <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/23/anti-asian-racism-reaches-crisis-point-in-canada-advocates-say">and race relations</a>.</p>
<p>It also challenges the idea that all or most of those representing Canadians in government have the desire, power and commitment to solve inequities. </p>
<p>As a scholar concerned with how <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442619241">teachers’ own education shapes what happens in classrooms</a> and how <a href="https://www.teachers.ab.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/ATA/Publications/Research/COOR-101-16%20Next%20Acts%20Monograph_2018-08.pdf">curriculum in Alberta schools</a> can help students to be ethically engaged treaty partners, there are two concepts that may be helpful: considering learning in schools as a process of encounter and thinking about people’s relationships to stories about the past. </p>
<h2>Learning is an encounter</h2>
<p>The possibilities of what students learn at school are shaped by how teachers understand what they are doing.</p>
<p>Whether teachers learn to deliver curriculum as just a body of facts, attitudes and skills or whether they see themselves providing students opportunities to encounter new possibilities matters enormously. </p>
<p>For teachers, approaching curriculum as an encounter means looking at the ways in which students at any age have already learned much about making sense of life, their country and themselves in relation to others. What they take for granted as common sense is itself a historical legacy that requires explicit study. </p>
<p>To recognize is to “re-cognize”: to bring into consciousness so as to know again. </p>
<p>Understanding teaching an encounter asks educators to not only engage their students to “re-cognize” what they have been formally taught — but also what they have informally learned. </p>
<p>For example, students have been subject to imagined but powerful social ideas related to ideal or acceptable forms of sexuality, gender and racialization. We need look no further than examples of hateful slurs on bathroom stall walls or uttered in schoolyards to know that these powerful and dehumanizing ideas persist and require explicit attention.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-black-racism-is-not-a-consensual-schoolyard-fight-160134">Anti-Black racism is not a 'consensual schoolyard fight'</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker cleans a rainbow path on the ground that has been vandalized." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410480/original/file-20210708-23-1qnlivr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A city worker cleans a rainbow pathway in Airdrie, Alta., that appears to have been tarred and feathered, in 2020. A Pride organization said it would paint over vandalism as many times as necessary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Airdrie Pride Society-Candice Kutyn</span></span>
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<h2>Tensions with preparing teachers</h2>
<p>I conducted a study with five university social studies teacher instructors about how to prepare new teachers to engage the inclusion of Indigenous and francophone perspectives in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210903254083">Alberta’s (then new) current program of social studies</a>. One finding from that study was the need to get better at equipping teachers and students to navigate discomfort and apprehension.</p>
<p>In teacher education, classrooms and beyond, what is needed is a cultural shift to valuing being <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/unsettling-canada">“unsettled”</a> by the unpleasant facts both of our historical and on-going relationships. </p>
<p>Educational institutions need to find ways to support students in understanding how we might forge our personal and collective identities ethically, responsive to all those with whom we are in treaty relations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two jingle dancers dance at a public square under advertisemennts and an ad for Team Canada." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C336%2C5768%2C3091&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409757/original/file-20210705-126293-1pomrpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Dancers perform a Jingle Dance during a Cancel Canada Day rally in Toronto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span>
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<h2>Easily digestable stories</h2>
<p>The German scholar Jorn Rüsen argues that the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25618580?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">ability to perceive moral obligations in the present is related to how we position ourselves in relationship to inherited stories from or about the past</a>. He says our capacities to change our current moral course of action hinges on this and he speaks of “narrative competence.” I take this to mean the extent to which a person can learn useful lessons from a variety of stories about the past to think creatively about present and possible futures.</p>
<p>But the big stories about “our” origins as members of nation-states — <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-postmodern-condition">what the theorist Jean-François Lyotard called “grand narratives”</a> — work against narrative competence. These grand narratives are <a href="http://thenhier.ca/en/node/752.html">easily digestible stories around which an imaginary “we” can unite through the exclusion of others “not us.”</a></p>
<p>Two problems grand narratives present is that they oversimplify the complexity of the past and present, and contribute to narrow national identifications about who has and has not contributed to the building of the country. As a powerful cultural story template and meme, Canada’s grand narratives get retold in textbooks, heritage minutes and movies with an occasional addition of women, Indigenous and racialized people, immigrants or workers being added for flavour.</p>
<h2>The power of stories to shape us</h2>
<p>Researchers concerned with how people are understanding the call to truth, justice and reconciliation <a href="https://arpbooks.org/Books/S/Storying-Violence">and what blocks it talk about “story-ing” — the process through which people understand their lives through the stories they are told and tell</a>. It is my hope that non-Indigenous scholars continue to learn from Indigenous scholars and story tellers like <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-truth-about-stories">Thomas King</a> and <a href="https://www.canadianscholars.ca/authors/lee-maracle">Lee Maracle</a> amongst many others in our local communities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leaked-alberta-school-curriculum-in-urgent-need-of-guidance-from-indigenous-wisdom-teachings-148611">Leaked Alberta school curriculum in urgent need of guidance from Indigenous wisdom teachings</a>
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<p>Canadians now need to acknowledge the power of stories to shape how people relate to each other, our non-human relatives, to the past, the nation and the world. And we need to ask whether we have the right stories to thrive well together in the face of present and future collective challenges.</p>
<p>The histories we tell each other must start with questions about justice and who we wish to collectively become. We need education that engages with our stereotypes and educated apprehensions so as to “re-story” a future better than that we have inherited. </p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kent den Heyer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Considering our relationships to stories about the past and looking at learning as a process of encounter can help Canadians to become better treaty partners.Kent den Heyer, Professor of Secondary Education, Faculty of Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1636432021-07-11T12:28:52Z2021-07-11T12:28:52ZHonour those found at residential schools by respecting the human rights of First Nations children today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409973/original/file-20210706-17-l4r0l4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5419%2C3349&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Margot King, age four, touches an orange flag, representing children who died at Indian Residential Schools in Canada, placed in the grass at Major's Hill Park in Ottawa, on July 1, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The discovery of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57325653">more than 1,000 Indigenous children’s bodies</a> in unmarked graves at the site of former Indian Residential Schools has shocked Canada’s national conscience. And the tragic news has left many asking what can be done to honour the memories of the children.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-more-shocking-residential-schools-discoveries-non-indigenous-people-must-take-action-161965">Amid more shocking residential schools discoveries, non-Indigenous people must take action</a>
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<p>When widespread human rights abuses occur — like those experienced by Indigenous children <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">in the Indian Residential School system</a> — states must at a minimum guarantee they will not happen again. </p>
<p>In this regard, the decisions of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal relating to <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/caring_society_afn_hr_complaint_2007.pdf">a complaint</a> lodged by the <a href="https://www.afn.ca/">Assembly of First Nations</a> and the <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/welcome">First Nations Child and Family Caring Society</a> provide a roadmap for Canada to put an end to the ongoing cycle of discrimination that continues to harm First Nations children today. </p>
<p>Canadians who wish to pay tribute to the children who died at Indian Residential Schools should demand the government stop <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/14/this-fight-over-compensation-for-first-nation-kids-has-been-raging-for-14-years-on-monday-its-back-in-court-amid-calls-for-canada-to-just-do-the-right-thing.html">fighting First Nations children in court</a> and fully comply with the <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/chrt-orders">huan rights tribunal decisions</a> aimed at not repeating the harms of the past. </p>
<h2>How ongoing litigation against First Nations children relates to those recently found</h2>
<p>Despite its obligation to ensure non-recurrence of human rights violations, Canada’s pattern of inequitably funding services to First Nations children continues today. </p>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/2016_chrt_2_access_0.pdf">the human rights tribunal found that Canada was racially discriminating against 165,000 First Nations children</a> by providing them with inequitable services. </p>
<p>Failing to act on this decision, <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/chrt-orders">19 other non-compliance orders by the tribunal</a> and <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action</a> pertaining to child welfare services, Canada’s discriminatory conduct towards First Nations children is ongoing. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the government of Canada’s discrimination incentivizes the removal of First Nations children from their families, homes and communities rather than providing support for preventive, early intervention and minimally intrusive measures.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7983112/indigenous-family-separations-advocate/">more Indigenous children in state care today than there were at any time during the residential school era</a>. According to Marie Wilson, <a href="http://www.trc.ca/about-us/meet-the-commissioners.html">one of the three TRC commissioners</a>, the harms experienced by children today when removed from their families, homes and communities are <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/affidavit_1_of_marie_wilson_affirmed_december_18_2016.pdf">comparable to the experiences of those who attended residential schools</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People stand in front of parliament hill holding signs 'Show your support' and 'Love First Nations Youth'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409970/original/file-20210706-25-d6du6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cindy Blackstock, executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, middle, attends the National Day of Action on First Nations Child Welfare on Parliament Hill in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s discrimination against First Nations children continues to have fatal consequences. </p>
<p>In 2017, Wapekeka First Nation <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/affidavit_of_dr._michael_kirlew._final._sworn_january_27_2017reduced.pdf">wrote to Health Canada seeking funds to provide mental health services</a> when it learned about a suicide pact amongst children in the community. Health Canada <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/wapekeka-suicides-health-canada-1.3941439">ignored the request saying that it “came at an awkward time in the funding cycle</a>.” </p>
<p>That year, three 12-year-old girls from the community died by suicide. And according to the family physician for Wapekeka First Nation, these deaths could have been prevented had the girls received the mental health services they needed. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mental-health-impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic-hits-marginalized-groups-hardest-142127">Mental health impact of coronavirus pandemic hits marginalized groups hardest</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Since issuing its 2016 decision, the human rights tribunal has closely monitored Canada’s response to the various findings of discrimination against against First Nations children. </p>
<p>When Canada has shown itself to be either unable or unwilling to comply with the orders, the tribunal issued <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/fr/non-compliance-orders">non-compliance orders</a> that detail the precise measures the government must take to reduce the harmful impacts of discrimination against First Nations children and their families. </p>
<p>Canada has contested most of these orders before the tribunal and <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/t-1621-19_t-1559-20_-_applicants_memorandum_of_fact_and_law_dated_march_12_2021.pdf">is now seeking to quash two of them before the Federal Court of Canada</a>. </p>
<p>The federal government has spent <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/indigenous-child-welfare-battle-heads-to-court-despite-calls-for-ottawa-to-drop-cases-1.5468405">millions of taxpayer dollars fighting First Nations children</a>, some of whom are the children and grandchildren of residential school survivors.</p>
<h2>Why is it important for Canada to compensate?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/chrt/doc/2019/2019chrt39/2019chrt39.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQANY29tcGVuc2F0aW9uIAAAAAAB&resultIndex=5">One of the decisions Canada is currently challenging</a> before the Federal Court requires Canada to compensate some of the First Nations children and their parents who were harmed by Canada’s discrimination - including those who were unnecessarily removed from their families and homes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-lawyer-investigate-discovery-of-215-childrens-graves-in-kamloops-as-a-crime-against-humanity-161941">Indigenous lawyer: Investigate discovery of 215 children's graves in Kamloops as a crime against humanity</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>The compensation order is one of the most important of the <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/chrt-orders">20 decisions the human rights tribunal has issued</a> during this lengthy litigation. Why? </p>
<p>Though the tribunal properly noted no amount of money can ever recover what the victims have lost, the compensation aims to symbolically acknowledge the infringement of dignity that has occurred as a result. This is also an essential first step to restoring trust in the federal government — a vital element to reconciliation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People hang a banner that says 'bring our children home'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/409974/original/file-20210706-15-1ykezvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People attach a banner where the statue of John A. MacDonald once stood during a gathering and march to honour Indigenous children in Montréal on July 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-reocurrence, emphasized that <a href="https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/30/42">compensating victims of human rights violations helps perpetrators understand what they did was wrong</a>. It also encourages Canada to cease its discriminatory behaviour. </p>
<p>The litigation process revealed that <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/j3n9j">Canada knew that it was under funding services for First Nations children</a> and was aware of its harmful impacts. Despite this, <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/chrt/doc/2016/2016chrt2/2016chrt2.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAEMjAxNgAAAAAB&resultIndex=26">it intentionally chose to continue its behaviour</a> because it considered ceasing to do so was too expensive. </p>
<p>And even after Canada was found to be in breach of the Canadian Human Rights Act, <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/chrt/doc/2017/2017chrt14/2017chrt14.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAZam9yZGFuJ3MgcHJpbmNpcGxlIG9wdGlvbgAAAAAB&resultIndex=2">internal documents reveal that it deliberately chose to disregard the human rights tribunal’s legally binding orders</a> because the cost of complying would have “far reaching resource implications.” </p>
<p>Simply put, Canada thinks respecting the human rights of First Nations children is not worth the money. </p>
<h2>What can be done today to honour the memories of those who died?</h2>
<p>The survivors of <a href="https://ctvnews.ca/canada/residential-school-survivors-share-their-stories-1.2403561">IRS shared their stories to the TRC</a> in hopes that their children and grandchildren would not experience the harms they did. </p>
<p>Canadians who wish to stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities that are mourning the loss of their children must demand the government not repeat the mistakes of the past. </p>
<p>This starts with urging the federal government to fully comply with all of the legally binding orders of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and demand the government stop fighting First Nations children in court.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Along with David Taylor, Sarah Clarke and David Wilson, Anne Levesque is one of the lawyers representing the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society on a pro bono basis in its litigation against the Government of Canada regarding its ongoing discrimination against 165,000 First Nations children and their families. </span></em></p>Canadians who wish to pay tribute to the children who died at Indian Residential Schools should demand the government stop fighting First Nations children in court.Anne Levesque, Assistant professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1629902021-07-04T11:28:27Z2021-07-04T11:28:27ZIndian Residential School tragic discoveries see calls for action, but words can make a difference too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409547/original/file-20210704-35953-l3e14c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C4955%2C3128&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters wave a flag at Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a "Cancel Canada Day" protest in response to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent discoveries of remains at the sites of former Indian Residential Schools in <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-longer-the-disappeared-mourning-the-215-children-found-in-graves-at-kamloops-indian-residential-school-161782">Kamloops, B.C.</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/team-investigating-brandon-former-residential-school-help-model-follow-1.6073118">Brandon, Man.,</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375">Cowessess, Sask.,</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/1410265038808563718?s=20">Cranbrook B.C.</a> have forced many Canadians to confront the horrors of brutal mistreatment and the ongoing oppression of Indigenous people. </p>
<p>The reactions to this discovery have ranged from <a href="https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/bishop-responds-with-shock-grief-and-compassion-over-kamloops-215-3837698">expressions of shock and grief</a> to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/northern-ontario-residential-schools-kamloops-discovery-1.6047162">resignation and even cynicism</a>. The sad and painful truth is these are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/cowessess-marieval-indian-residential-school-news-1.6078375">not the first, nor will they be the last of such discoveries</a>.</p>
<p>As a communications scholar and white settler in Canada, my privileged place requires that I assume a responsibility to critically interrogate a pattern that appears in the aftermath of these discoveries. It is a pattern we continually see.</p>
<p>People from communities impacted by these events, along with advocates and politicians from all sides, call for action. Almost invariably, that call will also decry the emptiness of “more words.” </p>
<h2>Words are actions</h2>
<p>Following the discovery in Kamloops, <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/canadian-party-leaders-call-out-the-liberals-for-inaction-on-residential-schools/">NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said</a>, “I want us to move on from symbolic gestures and nice words that the Liberal government has done again and again. We need concrete action.”</p>
<p>These statements suggest that words and action are separate things and that one must replace the other. This idea is a danger to our democratic response to violence and oppression. Because words, images and symbols are how we share experiences. They’re how we learn to live with those who have different beliefs than us. They give us a way to resolve those differences not through violence, but through a shared language.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of people wearing orange stand in front of steps covered with childrens shoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408963/original/file-20210629-11592-qasq9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous people sing and drum during a ceremony and vigil on Indigenous Peoples Day for the children whose remains were found at the former Indian Residential Schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote, democratic power works “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo29137972.html">only where word and deed have not parted company</a>.” Words are the fundamental building blocks of our laws and policies. Actions shape the world, as do words. In this sense, words are actions. Suggesting that words pale in comparison to action is building an apathy and cynicism that is infecting Canadian democracy.</p>
<h2>How to do things about oppression</h2>
<p>The old playground adage about sticks and stones has been proven time and again to be patently false. Words can hurt us. </p>
<p>People from marginalized communities are particularly aware the power words have and the damage they can do - so much so that we have <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/lynn-beyak-who-defended-good-of-residential-schools-retires-early-from-the-senate/">rightly censured people in power who wield words to inflict violence</a>. </p>
<p>Philosophers of language like J.L. Austin have theorized the ways these <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674411524">words “do things</a>.” In other words, they don’t only represent or describe things but create and enact things — they are what theorists call a “performative.”</p>
<p>Austin uses the example of “I do” at a wedding ceremony. Saying those words, he argues, at the appropriate time and in the proper context, creates a marriage, with all the rights and responsibilities, legal and social, that attends to that union.</p>
<p>Austin’s work has been critiqued and elaborated on by many, including feminist legal and rhetorical scholar Judith Butler. In her groundbreaking work <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Trouble-Feminism-and-the-Subversion-of-Identity/Butler/p/book/9780415389556"><em>Gender Trouble</em></a>, Butler argues that performativity is much more present than we think, even in supposedly constative statements (something that is either true or false). </p>
<p>She says that a doctor’s declaration, “it’s a boy,” during the birth of a child would appear to be a description of the child’s gender. But really gender itself is a performance, an array of social and political behaviours that can be subverted and challenged. </p>
<p>“It’s a boy” does not lock a human into a described social existence, but rather places certain expectations onto the child about how they will behave, expectations which that child may later challenge.</p>
<h2>Separating words from actions</h2>
<p>Marianne Constable, a professor of rhetoric at Berkeley, employs Butler’s ideas in her critique of former U.S. president Donald Trump. Constable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/10418385-4208415">explains how Trump’s refusal to name his order to “ban”</a> travel from majority-Muslim countries a “ban,” made it difficult for media and advocates to challenge this speech act. </p>
<p>By tweeting “Call it what you will,” and then ordering his press secretary to advise reporters not to call his order a “ban,” he divorced the word from its meaning. The resulting actions on borders and at airports were confusing and sometimes violent, as well as being hard to challenge in court. </p>
<p>Constable writes that separating words and actions is “problematic because the actions of Trump, as head of state, are matters of law that are done, more often than not, precisely through words.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman holds a sign that reads 'end white silence'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408965/original/file-20210629-21-168q2u3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Words as actions can also have positive impacts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mike Von/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Words can do harm but also heal</h2>
<p>These are the dangers of performative words, but words as actions can also have positive impacts. </p>
<p>In the wake of these tragic discoveries by Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and Cowessess First Nation, many words were spoken and symbolic actions taken. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/canada-9707e8f0c4746a6bb0512c0d01729832">Flags were lowered</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn1pwRV7XG4">debates occurred in the House of Commons</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7980719/residential-schools-trudeau-apology-cowessess-751-unmarked-graves/">apologies were offered</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cancel-canada-day-canadian-voices-1.6076022">celebrations are being reconsidered</a>. </p>
<p>While some may decry these words and symbolic acts as “performative,” we need to ensure it is not as a dismissal of the actions altogether, but part of a way forward that is possible through sharing words. </p>
<p>An apology by a prime minister, an admission of culpability in words, may have legal consequences that lead to redress and compensation.</p>
<p>As Angela White, director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/indian-residential-school-survivors-society-calls-for-action-1.6045448">in response to statements from the government and the Church</a>: “Reconciliation does not mean anything if there is no action to those words.”</p>
<p>While acknowledging that reconciliation itself is a performative word, White is saying that coupled with action it can lead to ongoing changes to laws, funding, relationships and knowledge.</p>
<p>Just a few days after the discoveries in Kamloops, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/indigenous-people-can-now-reclaim-traditional-names-on-their-passports-and-other-id">a law was passed allowing First Nations people to reclaim their traditional names on Canadian passports and other official documents</a>. Names —powerful words of identity, family, culture, and belonging that were stripped from Indigenous people — are being returned to them through law. </p>
<p>Austin acknowledges that <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674411524">even performative words can be lies</a>, promises can be broken and marriages can be dissolved. But <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/689583/pdf">as Constable writes</a>, “If words promise to reveal the world, then law, one might say, insists that the promise be kept.” Laws can be the words that enshrine our promises to one another, bringing about the actions we seek to promote and protect a common good. </p>
<p>There is still a lot of work needed on the path to reconciliation, but if we accept and encourage instances like these as actions that are part of that important process, we will strengthen our democracy. </p>
<p>Words can challenge the forces of cynicism and apathy that come from the cries that we cannot <em>just keep talking</em>. Talking is what we must do because words are actions and we need them now more than ever.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lowell Gasoi has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Fonds de recherche
du Québec - Société et culture, and Carleton University.</span></em></p>People often decry words and call for action after tragic events. But words are action and they’re fundamental to Canadian democracy.Lowell Gasoi, Instructor in communication studies, performativity, and arts advocacy, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1621452021-06-15T15:06:16Z2021-06-15T15:06:16ZIndian Residential Schools: Acts of genocide, deceit and control by church and state<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 250px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/indian-residential-schools-acts-of-genocide-deceit-and-control-by-church-and-state" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Tragically, the global community has learned that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-eml%C3%BAps-te-secw%C3%A9pemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778">215 Indigenous children</a> never got the chance to return home from Kamloops Indian Residential School. And more recently, the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7947060/manitoba-brandon-first-nation-residential-school-graves/">Sioux Valley Dakota Nation identified 104 potential graves</a> at the former Brandon Indian Residential School. </p>
<p>Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Indigenous scholar and academic director of the <a href="https://irshdc.ubc.ca/">Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre</a> at the University of British Columbia, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-pressured-find-all-unmarked-indigenous-graves-after-children-s-n1269456">told <em>NBC News</em></a>: “Mass graves are a legacy of conflict and human rights violations in other parts of the world….”</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-hypocrisy-recognizing-genocide-except-its-own-against-indigenous-peoples-162128">The denial of genocide and crimes against humanity in Canada</a> by the church and state can no longer be ignored. </p>
<p>These acts of genocide are the greatest affront to humanity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-hypocrisy-recognizing-genocide-except-its-own-against-indigenous-peoples-162128">Canada's hypocrisy: Recognizing genocide except its own against Indigenous peoples</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indigenous people have always understood the sacredness and central role of children in our societies — to model <a href="https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationcurriculumdevelopers/chapter/topic-indigenous-epistemologies-and-pedagogies/">Indigenous holism</a> and maintain connections to the land and thus, our future. Colonialism has disrupted these connections. </p>
<p>Since the establishment of <a href="https://fulcrum.bookstore.ipgbook.com/god-is-red-products-9781555914981.php">man-made hegemonic structures began with religion</a>, <a href="https://d-nb.info/1031400591/34">imperialism continues with colonialism,</a> which has led to the dispossession of Indigenous people.</p>
<p>This dispossession was a key feature of control and <a href="https://www.biblio.com/stolen-continents-by-wright-ronald/work/74985">colonialism in North America and other parts of the world</a>. It was the means to assimilating into British citizenship.</p>
<p>For example, the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand was created and signed by Māori Chiefs and the British Crown to enable <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-brief">all features of colonialism and assimilation as a British subject</a>. However, 90 years later, assimilation was not successful. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indigenous students sit at desks in a classroom looking up at a teacher" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405732/original/file-20210610-13-pzlmuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous children in class with a teacher at an Indian Residential School in Québec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/14096952968/in/album-72157644821521916/">(Library and Archives Canada, PA-212965)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It becomes clear that assimilation was not successful in Canada either because the government found <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">it necessary to mandate attendance at IRS</a>. As Indigenous children struggled through a foreign curriculum and system that attempted to strip away their traditional way of life, they unknowingly were trying to survive acts of genocide.</p>
<p>These acts of genocide were strategically implemented by church and state to remove Indigenous people from their land and, in turn, their culture through dispossession.</p>
<p>Both of us have a personal connection to this. Cynthia Stirbys is a fourth generation descendant of Indian Residential Schools survivors. Her research — <em><a href="https://ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/34264">Potentializing wellness to overcome trauma</a></em> — focuses on patterns and causes of intergenerational trauma. Amelia McComber attended theological school to examine the role of the church in the lives of Indigenous people. She concluded that the state used the church as a tool to break down Indigenous societies.</p>
<h2>Religion and control</h2>
<p>Residential schools were <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-catholic-church-ran-most-of-canadas-residential-schools-yet-remains/">primarily run by the Catholic church</a>. Since its adoption by the Roman Empire, Catholicism became entwined with notions of divine-sanctioned conquest and the church concerned itself with <a href="https://fulcrum.bookstore.ipgbook.com/god-is-red-products-9781555914981.php">control, money, capitalism and land acquisition</a>. </p>
<p>The Truth and Reconciliation Commission <a href="http://www.trc.ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf">Final Report reiterated as much</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While they often worked in isolation and under difficult conditions, missionaries were representatives of worldwide organizations that
enjoyed the backing of influential individuals in some of the most powerful nations of the world, and which came to amass considerable experience in transforming different cultures. Residential schools figured prominently in missionary work, not only in Canada, but also around the world. Christian missionaries played a complex but central role in the European colonial project. Their presence helped justify the extension of empires, since they were visibly spreading the word of God to the heathen. If their efforts were unsuccessful, the missionaries might conclude that those who refused to accept the Christian message could not expect the protection of the church or the law, thus clearing the way for their destruction.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of nuns with Indigenous children stand outside of a building, black and white photo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405728/original/file-20210610-21-9380ts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of nuns with Indigenous children in Port Harrison, Que., circa 1890.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/14260482006/in/album-72157644821521916/">(H. J. Woodside. Library and Archives Canada, PA-123707)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Christ’s teachings, we have understood the significance and central role of children in our global societies to represent the future. Central to his teachings are: “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A14&version=NIV">Let the little children come to me …</a>.” </p>
<p>The meaning of Jesus’ teachings have been co-opted throughout history <a href="https://fulcrum.bookstore.ipgbook.com/god-is-red-products-9781555914981.php">to support the agenda of the powerful</a>. The discovery of the 215 children reveal this deceit.</p>
<p>Indigenous legal scholar Tamara Starblanket was recently quoted in an article, <a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/reckoning-with-genocide-and-the-denialism-of-the-canadian-state"><em>Reckoning with genocide and the denialism of the Canadian State</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The laws and policies that force our children’s removal are about our lands and how to gain domination over the lands, minerals, waters, and airspace. The government attempted forcible denationalization, … by massive and widespread forcible indoctrination. … The effect is that our children do not understand their responsibilities, languages, cultures, spirituality, laws and direct connection to our lands and their duty to protect our lands for future generations.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The heartache of being separated from our land and sacred spaces, while unbelievably painful, does not compare to the heartache of losing our children and having them separated from their families and communities. </p>
<p>It becomes clear that Indigenous Peoples were being targeted with the implementation of Indian Residential Schools. Through the physical removal of Indigenous children from their communities, the church and state were dispossessing Indigenous people by attempting to strip them of culture and trying to assimilate them into broader Canadian society.</p>
<h2>Humanity remains in a state of sickness</h2>
<p>The United Nations Human Rights Office has called on the Canadian government to ensure “<a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/un-human-rights-experts-call-on-canada-to-investigate-residential-school-burial-sites-574562602.html">prompt and exhaustive investigations</a>” into the deaths of Indigenous children are done, and to find their bodies by searching unmarked graves. </p>
<p>The paradox of the situation forces the global community to accept the dark truth of the loss of 215 innocent Indigenous children in Canada. The discovery has shed light on the state of the world and the self-interests of church and state have been so apparent that humanity remains in a state of sickness and ecological imbalance.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cynthia Stirbys received funding from CIHR: NEAHR Grant, SSHRC Grant, NAAA Grant, and Indspire Grant during my PhD (2009-2015), I also received internal research funding from UWindsor. I am the Secretary for the Board of Directors for The Welcome Center Shelter for Women (Windsor, ON).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amelia McComberreceived an Indspire Grant and a grant from the Vancouver School of Theology.</span></em></p>Acts of genocide were strategically implemented by church and the Canadian government to remove Indigenous people from their land and, in turn, their culture.Cynthia Stirbys, Assistant Professor, Social Work, University of WindsorAmelia McComber, Indigenous TheologianLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625822021-06-11T16:11:08Z2021-06-11T16:11:08ZHow Canada committed genocide against Indigenous Peoples, explained by the lawyer central to the determination<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405942/original/file-20210611-21-1g35vf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C428%2C6500%2C3541&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Handprints are seen on the side of a truck riding in a convoy of truckers and other vehicles in support of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc people after the remains of 215 children were discovered buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C.. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls concluded in its 2019 <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/">final report</a> that the Canadian state has perpetrated genocide against Indigenous peoples. This genocide is the underlying cause of the contemporary murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="The booklet and final report of the National Inquiry" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405786/original/file-20210610-11008-ywnv8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This conclusion was <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/commissioner-says-calling-it-genocide-inescapable-conclusion/">“inescapable”</a> for the commissioners and for thousands of Indigenous people across the country. But as the lead author of the <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Supplementary-Report_Genocide.pdf">inquiry’s legal analysis of genocide</a>, I know personally how denial and disbelief dominated the reactions of the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-is-canada-committing-genocide-that-doesnt-add-up/">mainstream media</a> in Canada and of many non-Indigenous people in Canada that amounted to: “A genocide in Canada? Surely not!”</p>
<p>Then came the stunning news — the remains of 215 children found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. It seems like the type of mass graves commonly found at sites where genocide took place.</p>
<p>Canadians are beginning to be able to contemplate what for many Indigenous people is a given: Canada committed genocide. But, as academic Joanna R. Quinn <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-canadians-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-lasting-effects-of-residential-schools-161968">said in a recent article for <em>The Conversation</em></a>: “The residential school system was also one among many systems of violences and harms. Residential schools represent the tip of the iceberg.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-canadians-dont-seem-to-care-about-the-lasting-effects-of-residential-schools-161968">Why many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s now especially important to recall some of the legal underpinnings of the use of the term genocide in the Canadian context. Many myths and misunderstandings dominate the public discourse, hindering informed discussion on this subject that is so important to the future of our nations.</p>
<h2>Genocide is not just the Holocaust</h2>
<p>A classic objection to the Canadian genocide is often: “It’s not the Holocaust!”</p>
<p>Some recognized genocides, such as the Holocaust and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, took place over specific periods of time and were characterized by mass killings. But colonial genocide is a slow-moving process. The policies of colonial destruction of Indigenous peoples took place insidiously and over decades. The acts of violence and intent to destroy are structural, systemic and cut across multiple administrations and political leaders.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Shoes are placed on the lawn outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6500%2C4291&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405933/original/file-20210611-4750-15rzz6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shoes are placed on the lawn outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to honour the 215 children whose remains have been discovered buried near the facility, in Kamloops, B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under international law, genocide is both a crime that engages individual criminal responsibility and a wrongful act that engages state responsibility. Colonial genocide engages Canada’s responsibility as a state for many distinct acts and omissions that, taken together, violate the international prohibition against genocide. In law, this is called responsibility for a <a href="https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft_articles/9_6_2001.pdf">“composite act.”</a></p>
<h2>The definition of genocide</h2>
<p>Genocide is defined in <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">international law</a> as certain prohibited acts or omissions committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group of people. There is no doubt that the Indigenous peoples of Canada, despite their diversity, are a protected group. Here are some considerations:</p>
<p><strong>1. Prohibited acts or omissions</strong></p>
<p>Genocide encompasses a variety of lethal and non-lethal acts, including acts of “slow death.” There are five forms of prohibited behaviour — murder is only one of them.</p>
<p>Other behaviours that can constitute genocide include inflicting mental or physical harm, such as the sexual abuse and mistreatment of children in residential schools; imposing living conditions designed to result in physical destruction, such as imposed starvation to develop the Canadian West; lack of adequate food, water or medical care; imposing measures designed to prevent births, such as forced sterilization; and forcibly transferring children from the group, such as residential schools and the ‘60s Scoop. These are only examples, many others have been committed over the decades and are well documented.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tip-of-the-iceberg-the-true-state-of-drinking-water-advisories-in-first-nations-156190">Tip of the iceberg: The true state of drinking water advisories in First Nations</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>2. An intent to destroy</strong></p>
<p>The central element of genocide is the specific intent to destroy the protected group. Unlike an individual, a state is an abstract entity, without a mind or spirit. Therefore, when assessing state responsibility, one assesses the existence of a manifest policy or course of conduct over time that demonstrates the state’s “intent” to destroy a particular group.</p>
<p>Canada has demonstrated a continuing policy, with varying motivations but with an underlying intent that’s remained the same — to destroy Indigenous peoples physically, biologically and as social units.</p>
<p>When victims resist, defy and survive destructive policies, those policies are no less genocidal. More than anything, this is a testament to the resilience and strength of Indigenous peoples. Genocide is not about the outcome, but about the intent to destroy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An eagle feather is held up during a rally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405799/original/file-20210611-22322-rrvmxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An eagle feather is held up during a rally for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on Parliament Hill in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>3. An obligation to cease and repair</strong></p>
<p>Many Canadian policies have continued to this day and are having devastating effects on Indigenous communities. The genocide continues.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/06/04/we-accept-the-finding-that-this-was-genocide.html">publicly accepted</a> the conclusion that this is genocide.</p>
<p>The NDP has unsuccessfully <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/ndp-motion-to-see-commons-recognize-residential-schools-as-genocide-fails">asked parliamentarians</a> to do the same. Naming things for what they are is necessary. But more importantly, the commission of genocide requires reparations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405788/original/file-20210610-21752-1kjll6j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">PM Trudeau paying tribute to the 215 children whose bodies were found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.</span>
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<p>Ending the Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples is a legal obligation. It requires an honest and active process of decolonization. </p>
<p>Beyond apologies, it will require the courage to undo and reverse the influences of colonialism one by one. This requires structural changes that reverse the power paradigms in our institutions. It will require the re-empowerment of Indigenous Peoples as peoples with the right to self-determination in order to redefine a Canada that is free from the genocide on which it was built and still thrives today.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fannie Lafontaine receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for the Canadian Partnership for International Justice, of which she is the Director and for her Canada Research Chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights. She is a board member of Avocats sans frontières Canada. She participated as lead drafter of the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls's Supplementary Report "Legal Analysis on Genocide"</span></em></p>Ending the Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples is a legal obligation, requiring honest, active decolonization. The lawyer who wrote the MMIWG’s inquiry’s legal analysis of genocide explains.Fannie Lafontaine, Professeure titulaire en droit et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur la justice internationale pénale et les droits fondamentaux , Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619412021-06-07T21:36:21Z2021-06-07T21:36:21ZIndigenous lawyer: Investigate discovery of 215 children’s graves in Kamloops as a crime against humanity<p>As I reflect on the recent and horrific news about the discovery of the bodies of <a href="https://tkemlups.ca/remains-of-children-of-kamloops-residential-school-discovered/">215 children at the former site of Kamloops Indian Residential School</a>, I am reminded about the resiliency of our people.</p>
<p>But the uncovering of the remains of children must be investigated as a crime against humanity. All entities involved in residential schools — including <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools">different levels and branches of the Canadian government and various denominations of churches</a> — must be charged with genocide and tried at the <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/about">International Criminal Court</a>. </p>
<p>Like others who <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7915618/bodies-gofundme-scan-residential-school-sites/">have been speaking out</a>, I want the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ground-radar-technology-residential-school-remains-1.6049776">ground-penetrating radar</a> that was used at Kamloops Indian Residential School to be used at all other former residential school sites.</p>
<p>What happened to Indigenous children is genocide, and the legacy of that continues through denial and inaction.</p>
<h2>Aftermath of genocide</h2>
<p>Nehiyaw (Cree) legal scholar Tamara Starblanket argues that <a href="https://www.claritypress.com/product/suffer-the-little-children-genocide-indigenous-nations-and-the-canadian-state/">Canada must be held accountable for crimes of genocide</a>.</p>
<p>The <em>National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls</em> (MMIWG) produced a supplementary <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Supplementary-Report_Genocide.pdf">report dedicated to the issue of Canada’s genocide</a>. Its most powerful statement reads:</p>
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<p>Legally speaking, this genocide consists of a composite wrongful act that triggers the responsibility of the Canadian state under international law. Canada has breached its international obligations through a series of actions and omissions taken as a whole, and this breach will persist as long as genocidal acts continue to occur and destructive policies are maintained. Under international law, Canada has a duty to redress the harm it caused and to provide restitution, compensation and satisfaction to Indigenous peoples.</p>
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<p>I have watched and felt the aftermath of this genocide. I’ve felt it all my life and I know my parents and grandparents felt it too. My grandmother went to a residential school and didn’t talk about it until she was sick and dying. She told my aunt that she saw a child being buried beside the laneway to the Mohawk Institute, also known as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6LlGW_U">the Mush Hole</a>, in Brantford, Ont.</p>
<p>This pain and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363461513503380">trauma has been passed down from generation to generation</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TQmz6LlGW_U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Mohawk Institute is one of the last standing Indian Residential Schools in Canada. It has since been turned into the Woodland Cultural Centre.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Resiliency and survival</h2>
<p>As a lawyer working with <a href="https://www.sunchildlaw.ca/?page_id=63">Sunchild Law</a>, I represented residential school survivors at their <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/faq-eng.php?act=factsheets/church-role-eng.php">Independent Assessment Process (IAP) hearings</a>. The IAP was established to resolve claims of serious physical, sexual or emotional abuse suffered at Indian Residential Schools. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/residential-school-survivors-stories-and-experiences-must-be-remembered-as-class-action-settlement-finishes-157397">Residential school survivors' stories and experiences must be remembered as class action settlement finishes</a>
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<p>While advocating for survivors, I found this process not only difficult as an Indigenous lawyer and intergenerational survivor, but as someone who had to witness the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/residential-school-survivors-settlement-report-1.5470001">re-traumatization of survivors</a>. I also saw and felt their amazing strength as they persevered through this process. </p>
<p>As a professor of law at the University of Windsor, I am grateful our students have been able to learn <a href="https://www.uwindsor.ca/law/Indigenous-Legal-Orders-Institute">Indigenous Legal Orders</a> from Indigenous faculty with specializations in Haudenosaunee, Nêhiyaw and Anishinaabe laws.</p>
<p>We have done a lot at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law to implement the <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 28</a> — which calls upon “law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law.” We’ve done more than establish one course and in fact have established an Indigenous Law Stream Certificate. It’s not nearly enough, but it is a start.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/first-nation-relationship-to-the-land">Indigenous peoples’ connection to our lands</a>, communities and peoples have enabled resilience. Our ceremonies and the strength of our <a href="https://jfklaw.ca/making-space-for-indigenous-law/">Indigenous laws</a> are strong; we are still here with our languages, songs and healing ceremonies. </p>
<p>The strength of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc peoples was seen with <a href="https://tkemlups.ca/may-21-statement-from-the-office-of-the-chief-kukpi7-rosanne-casimir">healing ceremonies, songs and dances</a> to respect and honour the spirits of the 215 children.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Ohero:kon Under the Husk’ by Katsitsionni Fox shows young Mohawk women who are on a spiritual, emotional and physical journey to womanhood through their traditional rites of passage.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Ongoing genocide</h2>
<p>I’ve seen and felt the strength of our people to recover and heal from the impacts of genocidal, colonial laws and policy — like <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-5/">The Indian Act</a> and <a href="https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sixties-scoop">the ‘60s Scoop</a> — that have been happening for decades. These feelings of pain and trauma are not new. </p>
<p>They are consistently and persistently triggered every <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/residential-school-survivor-urges-non-indigenous-people-to-use-that-anger-in-a-good-way-1.5458521">time a survivor speaks out</a>, when one of our <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/cross-canada-walk-to-raise-awareness-about-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-1.5428692">women goes missing or is found murdered</a>, when our people are <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/disturbing-data-from-statistics-canada-shows-anti-indigenous-hate-crimes-are-on-the-rise/">targeted for being Indigenous</a>, for <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/did-the-protests-work-the-wetsuweten-resistance-one-year-later/">protecting their lands and territories</a> or when we’re <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/22/canada-police-indigenous-discrimination-colten-boushie-report">violated in any way</a>. </p>
<p>The MMIWG final report goes on to say: </p>
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<p>But first and foremost, Canada’s violation of one of the most fundamental rules of international law necessitates an obligation of cessation: Canada must put an end to its perennial pattern of violence against and oppression of Indigenous peoples.</p>
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<h2>Investigating crimes against humanity</h2>
<p>Canada’s genocidal laws and policies are not historic: the Indian Act still exists today as one of the most <a href="https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=38845">racist and sexist pieces of legislation in the world</a>. At one point, it dictated that <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">every Indigenous child must attend a residential school</a>.</p>
<p>The discovery of the remains of Indigenous children must be investigated as a crime against humanity and further investigation must happen at other former residential school sites. The perpetrators must be held accountable so that genocide will stop and healing and reconciliation can occur.</p>
<p>I urge all Canadians to care, learn, listen, respect and unlearn the lies that have been told. I wish for all Canadians who are unaware of this genocide to learn the truth and accept that they’ve benefited from Canada’s genocidal policies and laws that have tried to erase us from existence.</p>
<p>Our children and survivors have to be celebrated, honoured and respected. </p>
<p>Byron Louis, Chief of the Okanagan Indian Band in British Columbia, posted on LinkedIn a message that should stay with all of us:</p>
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<p>“Do not lower your head and cry, hold your head up in praise and honour them and most importantly support them. This is what they rightfully deserve in their service to our People. They need our praise not pity!”</p>
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<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverly Jacobs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An Indigenous lawyer makes the case that what happened to Indigenous children who went to residential schools is genocide and the case should be tried by the International Criminal Court.Beverly Jacobs, Acting Dean and Associate Professor, Law, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1620482021-06-04T23:06:57Z2021-06-04T23:06:57ZAs an Indigenous doctor, I see the legacy of residential schools and ongoing racism in today’s health care<p>“We didn’t know what he was on.”</p>
<p>That’s what the emergency room physician said to me when I asked why my father, then 49, wasn’t sedated even though he was on a ventilator and in shock. My dad is alive today because I was a second year internal medicine resident and was able to get to the emergency room and take control of the health care he was receiving. </p>
<p>It was the most traumatic moment of my life.</p>
<p>I relived the impact of that systemic racism <a href="http://ignoredtodeathmanitoba.ca/index.php/2017/09/15/out-of-sight-interim-report-of-the-sinclair-working-group/">when Brian Sinclair died</a>. When <a href="https://www.stalberttoday.ca/beyond-local/the-horrific-treatment-of-joyce-echaquan-shows-canadas-systemic-racism-again-2794483">Joyce Echaquan died</a>. When <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/eishia-hudson-vigil-winnipeg-police-1.5980336#:%7E:text=Police%20were%20trying%20to%20apprehend,death%20was%20labelled%20a%20homicide">Eishia Hudson died</a>. And again when the bodies of 215 children, who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-longer-the-disappeared-mourning-the-215-children-found-in-graves-at-kamloops-indian-residential-school-161782">were buried in unmarked graves, were found</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-longer-the-disappeared-mourning-the-215-children-found-in-graves-at-kamloops-indian-residential-school-161782">No longer 'the disappeared': Mourning the 215 children found in graves at Kamloops Indian Residential School</a>
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<p>Each tragic discovery or incident is an opportunity to act. But repeatedly Canada’s decision is no action — or insufficient action, and the next thing happens and we’re forced to grieve and call for action again.</p>
<p>Like many of my Indigenous physician colleagues, the anger and grief of these incidents has shaped my career — providing powerful fuel to lead change even when, and especially when, there is resistance to that change. We work for the safety of our loved ones and remain unwilling to settle for the status quo that inaction upholds. </p>
<h2>Assimilating Indigenous peoples</h2>
<p>It would be incorrect to think of the racism of residential schools as separate from systemic racism in health care.</p>
<p>In March of 1942, Dr. Percy E. Moore, who was superintendent of the medical service branch of the federal Department of Indian Affairs at the time, <a href="http://www.ianmosby.ca/administering-colonial-science/">co-led a trip of scientific and medical researchers to First Nations communities in northern Manitoba</a>.</p>
<p>The purpose of that trip was to study the nutritional status of First Nations people. This was followed by a series of controlled experiments in <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/his.2013.0015">some First Nation communities and Indian Residential Schools</a> without informed consent or even knowledge that the experiments were taking place.</p>
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<img alt="Archive photo: building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404595/original/file-20210604-15-1ytblf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Classroom building at Kamloops Indian Residential School circa 1950.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/14114043844/in/album-72157644114192579/">(Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development/Library and Archives Canada)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The reasons Moore thought that these nutritional experiments were necessary wasn’t for the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples. Rather, he felt addressing the poor health and nutrition of Indigenous peoples was necessary to protect the white population from Indian “<a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/his.2013.0015">reservoirs and vectors of disease</a>.”</p>
<p>He also saw it as important to fulfil the longer term goal of assimilating Indigenous peoples into the Canadian population. This medical experimentation, as well as the health services delivered by Indian Affairs, had the same purpose as residential schools — “<a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/killing-indian-child">to kill the Indian in the child</a>.”</p>
<p>Moore still has a federal hospital named after him in Hodgson, Man., which provides health services to several nearby First Nation communities.</p>
<h2>Inaction in the face of need</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/189/32/E1043">Malnutrition</a> and crowding in residential schools were root causes of widespread infectious diseases like tuberculosis. They also contributed to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/at-least-3-000-died-in-residential-schools-research-shows-1.1310894">devastating toll on students during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>Food insecurity and overcrowded housing contributed to the significant <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/182/3/257">disproportionate impacts of H1N1 on First Nations people</a>. These factors are also contributing to the significant <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7569078/manitoba-active-coronavirus-cases-first-nations/">disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations people</a>. </p>
<p>Dr. Camara Jones, former president of the American Public Health Association, has described <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.90.8.1212">inaction in the face of need as one form of institutionalized racism</a>. </p>
<p>We have long had evidence of the need. We have similar long evidence of inaction. </p>
<h2>Breeding mistrust</h2>
<p>Systemic racism has widely been acknowledged <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2021693">to breed mistrust in the health-care system</a>. Our personal experiences of racism in health care breed this mistrust. </p>
<p>When the catastrophic and public events such as the deaths of Brian Sinclair and Joyce Echaquan occur — separated by time but without evidence of action in between — our mistrust is furthered. When accountability comes because <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/what-joyce-echaquan-knew/">a dying woman uses social media to broadcast the treatment she is receiving</a> and not because of internal intervention or safeguards, that demonstrates the mistrust is well deserved. </p>
<p>The coroner’s inquest <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-quebec-coroner-finishes-echaquan-inquest/">into Echaquan’s death just finished</a>. And although the final report with its recommendations will likely take months, coroner Gehane Kamel stated her hope is that it would be the “foundation of a new social pact that will bring us to say, ‘Never again.’” But with the refusal of the Québec government to acknowledge the systemic racism in health care that led to Echaquan’s death, it is hard to believe that the social pact has in fact changed.</p>
<p>When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout started, there was a lot of speculation that Indigenous people would be more vaccine hesitant <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/193/11/E381">and exploration of potential reasons included past medical experiementation</a>. </p>
<p>That speculation has seemingly overestimated what the hesitancy would be. In places like Manitoba, as of the end of May, <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sixty-per-cent-of-adults-in-manitoba-have-first-dose-574495642.html">the only three health districts where over 80 per cent of people have received their first dose are health districts comprised of First Nations communities</a>. The credit for this lies most likely with First Nations leaders who <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pimicikamak-vaccination-campaign-1.5982574">have worked hard to address mistrust and ensure vaccines are accessible</a>. </p>
<p>Structural racism <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/38/E1098">created the conditions that put Indigenous people at higher risk for COVID-19</a>. Inequitable access to culturally safe health care that is free of racism layers on and furthers these disproportionate impacts. </p>
<p>Rather than labelling Indigenous people hesitant, health systems should engage in critical self-reflection on what they have done to create mistrust, and what action they need to take to rebuild that trust.</p>
<h2>The legacy is embedded in our society</h2>
<p>The legacy of residential schools is not just in the intergenerational trauma and impacts on Indigenous families and communities — it is also in the health care system. </p>
<p>The legacy is displayed through Canada’s failure to act in ways that show that racism will no longer be tolerated in any space and that our lives, Indigenous lives, are valued: past, present and future. </p>
<p>A commitment to eliminating racism must be reflected in accountability mechanisms that focus on the impacts of co-ordinated and consistent anti-racist action. </p>
<p>Until that happens, we will do what we can to heal from this and prepare ourselves to grieve again.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162048/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcia Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A commitment to eliminating racism must be reflected in accountability mechanisms that focus on the impacts of coordinated and consistent anti-racist action.Marcia Anderson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619682021-06-04T19:00:28Z2021-06-04T19:00:28ZWhy many Canadians don’t seem to care about the lasting effects of residential schools<p>Shock swept across the country as many Canadians learned that the remains of an estimated 215 children were found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. </p>
<p>For Indigenous people, the tragic discovery didn’t come as a surprise — thousands of Indigenous children never came home from residential schools and their <a href="http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-9-4-2015-eng.pdf">whereabouts remain unknown</a>. </p>
<p>As a settler researcher who studies how we acknowledge the past and build ties between communities, what I find surprising is that many of us continue to be shocked. </p>
<h2>Tip of the iceberg</h2>
<p>The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concluded <a href="http://www.trc.ca/events-and-projects/missing-children-project.html">that more than 4,100 children</a> died while attending a residential school, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-survivors-of-residential-schools-share-their-stories-call-on-the">but that figure</a> is <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/up-to-6-000-children-may-have-died-at-canada-s-residential-schools-1.2399586">a conservative estimate</a>. </p>
<p>We may never know the true figures.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijs034">The violence of residential schools is like a slice across the spectrum</a> of the Indigenous–settler relationship,” writes transitional justice scholar Rosemary Nagy. By taking children from their families, and in the physical and psychological abuses carried out there, residential schools were an integral aspect of broader policies that enacted violences and harms — many of which meet the legal definition of genocide — that were carried out and continue to be carried out against Indigenous people every day. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-hypocrisy-recognizing-genocide-except-its-own-against-indigenous-peoples-162128">Canada's hypocrisy: Recognizing genocide except its own against Indigenous peoples</a>
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<p>But the residential school system was also <em>one among many</em> systems of violences and harms. Residential schools represent the tip of the iceberg. Seeing the iceberg <a href="https://troymedia.com/viewpoint/indigenous-apartheid-system-canada/#.YLl9b_lKjIU">has been made deliberately difficult</a> because our society has been <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/race-space-and-the-law">planned, designed and legislated</a> to make those abuses and their effects invisible, and render Indigenous lives inconsequential to settlers’ lives.</p>
<p>In this context, the broad picture of how residential schools relate to larger colonial violence has never been adequately explained to us. Only very recently, since the TRC, have provinces and territories begun to include the history of residential schools in curriculum. But CBC reports that “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-content-school-curriculums-trc-1.5300580">not all of it is mandatory, nor is it extensive</a>.”</p>
<p>Also, in part, it’s that <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/01/28/opinion/lynn-beyak-retired-residential-school-denial-barrier-reconciliation">many of us (settlers) choose not to see it</a>. Because it makes us uncomfortable.</p>
<h2>Connect the dots</h2>
<p>Many people living across what we now call Canada know a little bit about residential schools, or problems like <a href="https://theconversation.com/tip-of-the-iceberg-the-true-state-of-drinking-water-advisories-in-first-nations-156190">persistent unclean drinking water</a> in Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>But Canadians remain unable or unwilling to connect the dots — the unifying factor <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/21-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-indian-act-1.3533613">being the Indian Act</a>, a piece of federal legislation designed to <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/733435?ln=en">control every aspect of the lives</a> of Indigenous people living in Canada. </p>
<p>The Indian Act determines whether and if funding is allocated to Indigenous communities for water systems, housing, health care, and so on, and has the power to deny those communities even the basics.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-white-people-wake-up-canada-is-racist-83124">Dear white people, wake up: Canada is racist</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But many people remain unaware that the physical, sexual and psychological abuse that many Indigenous children suffered at the <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4407/">state-mandated</a> and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools">church-run</a> Indian Residential Schools left deep scars that still have not been healed. </p>
<p>Unless and until people connect those realities, so that the links between harms are joined, it is hard to see the wide and dangerous scope of those harms as a whole.</p>
<h2>Recognize harms</h2>
<p>My recent book, <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/16236.html"><em>Thin Sympathy: A Strategy to Thicken Transitional Justice</em></a> examines the failure of deeply divided societies to acknowledge the past. Based on my research that looks at how Uganda has failed to come to terms with its own horrific past, it is clear that the path to reconciliation must be paved with a recognition of harm and abuse. That work demonstrates Canadians too need help to build an understanding of the basic facts about specific harms in Canada. </p>
<p>Settler people across Canada need to change the broader social ethos to allow the work of coming to terms with the past, and our role in all of it, to start. </p>
<p>As a country, we need to embark on a process to understand what has happened. And despite the best efforts of the TRC and the <a href="https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/">Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls</a>, across the country, people en masse have largely failed to take up these efforts. </p>
<p>Because we fail to admit to what has taken place, and consequently feel no urgency to address these harms, the calls made by both the TRC and MMIWG Inquiry <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=1">have overwhelmingly not yet been implemented</a>.</p>
<h2>Legal obligation, moral imperative</h2>
<p>Here’s the thing: My research suggests people across the country only need to understand the <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/16236.html">basics</a> of what happened and the consequences of those harms. </p>
<p>That knowledge should be enough to allow non-Indigenous people in Canada to take stock of their own particular circumstances and realities, support the hard work that needs to be done and encourage them to take part in building new relationships. </p>
<p>Indigenous communities <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/resources/transitioning-from-the-indian-act-to-the-rights-framework-2/">have put a lot of time and thought into re-thinking the Indian Act</a>, and proposing solutions for the way forward. The rest of the country needs to catch up. </p>
<p>In consultation with Indigenous communities, Canada needs <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_white_paper_1969">to listen to what communities say</a> and make needed changes. </p>
<p>Real equality and respect for Indigenous people and their rights are <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/constitution_act_1982_section_35">legal obligations</a> and moral imperatives. </p>
<p>Making them a reality is what will lead to reconciliation, and that can only come once our country takes the time to understand the <a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/unsettling-canada">harms that continue</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCTheNational/status/1399870197620785152">affect Indigenous communities</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-road-to-reconciliation-starts-with-the-un-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples-122305">The road to reconciliation starts with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The benefit of an increased awareness of what has taken place will make Canadians more open to participate in the change-making that is needed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People stand outside at a memorial wearing face masks with a range of sad, stunned and exhausted emotion on their faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C545%2C5350%2C2896&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404553/original/file-20210604-10042-ked8cl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People gather in Edmonton in recognition of the discovery of children’s remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Start now</h2>
<p>Campaigns to do this need to start now. </p>
<p>These efforts can be undertaken by government and community groups, non-governmental organizations and individuals.</p>
<p>At the government level, it could involve changing the curriculum in schools, establishing a commission of inquiry and openly implementing the TRC’s <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Calls to Action</a>.</p>
<p>At the “informal” or non-government level, it could involve expert panels established by scholarly organizations like the Royal Society of Canada. It could mean dramas <a href="https://www.nfb.ca/film/nipawistamasowin-we-will-stand-up/">or films</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055409990128">TV and radio programs</a>, and newspaper and digital media campaigns that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/105960117700200317">spell out the total scope and effects of these damaging systems plainly</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://activehistory.ca/2017/08/150-acts-of-reconciliation-for-the-last-150-days-of-canadas-150">Individuals could</a> make <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/un-calls-canada-prompt-exhaustive-investigations-1.6049912">a difference in</a> many ways.</p>
<p><em>The Globe and Mail</em> recently ran the headline, “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-indigenous-leaders-call-for-national-reckoning-after-childrens-remains/">Indigenous leaders say discovery of children’s remains at Kamloops residential school is beginning of national reckoning</a>.”</p>
<p>And while I would like to hope so, it’s going to take a lot of conversations to make that happen. <a href="https://activehistory.ca/2017/08/150-acts-of-reconciliation-for-the-last-150-days-of-canadas-150">Non-Indigenous people here in Canada need to roll up our sleeves</a> and <a href="http://www.trc.ca/about-us/trc-findings.html">get down to work to consciously understand the harms and violences</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mmiwg-action-plan-nfsc-1.6050824">that continue to hurt</a> Indigenous people across the country — and do something to rectify it.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna R. Quinn receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. In the past, she has received funding from the United States Institute of Peace.</span></em></p>Canadians need to understand the basic harms and violences that continue to be experienced by Indigenous people across the land we call Canada.Joanna R. Quinn, Associate Professor, Political Science and Director of the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1617822021-06-01T23:17:48Z2021-06-01T23:17:48ZNo longer ‘the disappeared’: Mourning the 215 children found in graves at Kamloops Indian Residential School<p><strong><em>Content warning: This piece contains distressing details about Indian Residential Schools</em></strong></p>
<p>A macabre part of Canada’s hidden history made headlines last week after <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-eml%C3%BAps-te-secw%C3%A9pemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778">ground-penetrating radar located the remains of 215 First Nations children</a> in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. </p>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/what-we-know-about-how-many-children-died-at-canada-s-residential-schools-1.5450277">150,000 Indigenous children that were taken from their families and nations and placed in residential schools</a>, the 215 bodies of children, some as young as three, located in Tk’emlúps were part of a larger colonial program to liquidate Indigenous nations of their histories, culture and foreclose on any future. To do this, Canada put into motion a system to “<a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/">kill the Indian in the child</a>.” </p>
<p>This system often killed the child. </p>
<p>While we currently have no evidence to determine the cause of death for each child, we know that they died a political death — these children were <em>the disappeared</em>.</p>
<h2>Colonial population management projects</h2>
<p><a href="https://tkemlups.ca/wp-content/uploads/05-May-27-2021-TteS-MEDIA-RELEASE.pdf">The chilling discovery in Tk’emlúps</a> reminds us of the larger project of aggressive assimilation. </p>
<p>Indian Residential Schools <a href="https://nctr.ca/">were centres for state-directed violence against Indigenous nations</a>, where the children — the heirs of Indigenous nations — were programmatically stripped of their <em>Indianness</em>. </p>
<p>Indigenous lives were broken down, sterilized of any trace of the gifts inherited from their parents and ancestors and re-packaged into Canadian bodies.</p>
<p>The brute nation-making scheme of the Canadian state looked to the existing <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-3/role-churches">infrastructure laid down by the prominent Christian churches</a>. The churches were involved in population management almost from the moment of contact between European Crowns and Indigenous nations. The Catholic Church, <a href="https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/look-canadas-indian-residential-schools-numbers/">which would go on to operate about 60 per cent of these schools</a>, was a hawkish occupier. </p>
<p>Like branch plants in a vast production scheme, the state made good use of the extensive church network to co-ordinate the extraction of raw material—Indigenous children.</p>
<p>But the revelation of a disposal site for children — unrecorded and hidden — on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School tells us that the regulation of Indigenous life extended into death. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of dozens of Indigenous boys and girls lined up in front of the school while a row of church and school officials sit in the front of the picture." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403862/original/file-20210601-17-75978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1937 photograph of the Kamloops Indian Residential School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Archdiocese of Vancouver Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The politics of death and mourning</h2>
<p>A fact many Indigenous people understand is that life’s benefits and burdens are <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">shot through the colonial prism</a>. As we go through life, we quickly learn that the weight of history’s finger is pressing firmly on the scale. </p>
<p>What is often overlooked is how that uneven distribution in life carries on through death.</p>
<p>Just as in life, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2019/why-are-the-deaths-of-indigenous-women-and-girls-ungrievable/">how Indigenous death is mourned and remembered has been a matter of political control</a>. The Canadian state, in partnership with the churches, has long unilaterally assumed sovereignty over Indigenous mortality and bereavement. </p>
<p>Nowhere is this more apparent than <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/indigenous-residential-schools-canada-graves">the atrocity at Tk’emlúps which has sharpened this for many Indigenous nations</a>, as we see how the Catholic church not only denied these children the capacity to shape the means of and choose the ends of their life, but also they denied their communities control over their death.</p>
<p>In Tk’emlúps, the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/survivors-faith-leaders-call-on-catholic-church-to-take-responsibility-for-residential-schools-1.6048077">Catholic church decided that neither their lives nor their deaths were worthy of being known</a>, remembered and commemorated.</p>
<p>One of the more appalling acts by the Catholic church in Tk’emlúps was how the children were deliberately forgotten; they were <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/feds-stopped-keeping-track-of-children-who-died-in-residential-schools-probably-because-rates-were-so-high">omitted from the official records that would verify their passing</a>. </p>
<p>Documentation of death may seem clinical and lacking the human touch, but for some it has become <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/understanding-grief/201709/ambiguous-loss">crucial to contemporary remembrance</a>. It is one way, of many culturally divergent methods, of confirming death and allowing the dead to have a social afterlife with the living. The painful void that lingers is what researcher Pauline Boss called <em>ambiguous loss</em>, “<a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/ec2f44692d0bfd26dd01c9f2013b88a2/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41036">a loss that remains unclear because there is no death certificate or official verification of loss; there is no resolution, no closure</a>.”</p>
<p>The memory of the person and their remains may strike us as two separate matters, but they are intimately connected in many cultures. </p>
<p>Not unlike Catholicism, the material <a href="https://www.cpd.utoronto.ca/endoflife/Slides/PPT%20Indigenous%20Perspectives.pdf">body figures centrally amongst many Indigenous rites and ceremonies</a> that cultivate social continuity with the dead.
Matthew Engelke, who studies the anthropology of death, tells us that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“(W)hat commemoration often involves is much more than remembering the dead. It requires a serious engagement with the things that ghosts and ancestors want: a proper burial, a pot of beer, a feast, money, a fitting grave-stone, the blood of a reindeer, the blood of kin.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The truth about <em>the disappeared</em></h2>
<p>The truth about the atrocity at Tk’emlúps escaped examination during the <a href="http://www.trc.ca/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)</a>. In the weeks before the TRC launched in 2008, the Catholic church was confronted with the allegations of a mass grave. Back then, <a href="https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/claims-of-mass-grave-at-tk-emlups-go-back-years-1.24324160">the church denied any knowledge</a>. </p>
<p>Until their remains were recently located, the Catholic church was content to leave 215 children as ‘disappeared.’ </p>
<p><em>The disappeared</em> — those that have been secretly disposed — produce a unique grieving. They leave families and communities in a state of suspended mourning, never sure whether their loved one is alive or dead, or where their remains have been left. </p>
<p>It is life abandoned to death with no chance of the living to intervene.</p>
<p>Now that they have been located, the surviving families, communities and Nations can begin to think about custodianship of the remains, mourning and memorialization. That much is up to them and every support and resource ought to be provided.</p>
<p><em>If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation used the term “mass graves” in this story published in the days following the announcement by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. This article has since been updated to use the term “unmarked graves.”</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veldon Coburn receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Ground-penetrating radar located the remains of 215 First Nations children in a mass unmarked grave, revealing a macabre part of Canada’s hidden history.Veldon Coburn, Associate professor, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573972021-03-31T15:01:01Z2021-03-31T15:01:01ZResidential school survivors’ stories and experiences must be remembered as class action settlement finishes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392594/original/file-20210330-17-tfnypq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C902&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students of the Metlakatla Indian Residential School, B.C.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(William James Topley. Library and Archives Canada, C-015037)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>March 31 marks the conclusion of the largest class action settlement in Canada’s history. After 14 years, the <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/home-eng.php">Independent Assessment Process (IAP)</a> — a compensation process established to resolve claims of serious physical, sexual or emotional abuse suffered at Indian residential schools — is officially over. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that it collected <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/media/information/publication/pdf/FinalReport/IAP-FR-2021-03-11-eng.pdf">claims from more than 38,000 Indian residential school survivors</a>, the IAP remains relatively unknown. </p>
<p>The court-ordered destruction of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-schools-records-supreme-court-1.4342475">IAP testimonies and records</a>, the biased and superficial mainstream news media reports and the continued <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/iap-final-report-residential-schools-1.5946103">emphasis on compensation and costs</a> ensure that <em>if</em> it is remembered, it will be through a colonial gaze. </p>
<p>This gaze represents the perspective through which the process is framed, what is explicitly valued or absent, and whose story is remembered: the colonial narrative is privileged and the Indigenous voice limited. </p>
<p>Our national study seeks to understand perspectives and the framing of the IAP to create public knowledge, in the wake of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-schools-records-supreme-court-1.4342475">the destruction of records</a>. The study analyzes government documents (<a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/35-2/house/hansard-index"><em>Hansard Index</em>, the traditional name of the transcripts of Parliamentary debates</a>), national and Indigenous media, along with transcripts produced through interviews and focus groups with survivors, health support workers, adjudicators, judges and lawyers. The results presented here are preliminary.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/residential-school-literature-can-teach-the-colonial-present-and-imagine-better-futures-120383">Residential school literature can teach the colonial present and imagine better futures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A bit of background</h2>
<p>Of the 38,000 survivors who applied to the IAP, almost 27,000 attended adjudications — an <a href="https://iap-pei.ca/stats-eng.php">out-of-court process</a>. The adjudication gave survivors the opportunity to tell their story of abuse to an adjudicator and government representative, with optional supports including a lawyer, health support worker, elder, translator or family. The <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indian-residential-schools-records-supreme-court-1.4343259">fate of the records and testimonies from these hearings — 800,000 documents — was decided</a> by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2017. </p>
<p>The court upheld the position of the Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat, the body responsible for administering the IAP, that <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/records-eng.php">the testimonies would be destroyed unless individual survivors decided to claim or share their records</a>. Currently only a handful of survivors have requested their transcripts or offered to make (sometimes redacted) versions publicly accessible through the <a href="https://nctr.ca/map.php">National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)</a>. In 2027, any remaining survivor <a href="http://myrecordsmychoice.ca/index-eng.php">testimonies and records will be destroyed</a>.</p>
<p>In January 2020 an Ontario Superior Court <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/court-decision-statistical-reports-residential-school-abuse-1.5579455">ruling blocked the creation of static reports</a>. These included information the secretariat gathered during the IAP about variables like the child’s age and sex, particularities of residential schools, types of abuses and community impacts. The case was appealed by the NCTR and the Ontario Court of Appeal’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/court-decision-statistical-reports-residential-school-abuse-1.5579455">judgment is pending</a>. </p>
<h2>Coverage of the IAP: Colonial and wanting</h2>
<p>Media coverage of the IAP is sparse. Preliminary results of our study reveal a focus on the trials and tribulations of a bureaucratic process that attempted to combine class action law with reconciliation-based gestures. Lost in this narrative is the survivors’ lived experiences within the IAP and a critical evaluation of the IAP’s overarching goals: <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/information-eng.php?act=2021-03-11-eng.php">healing and reconciliation</a>. </p>
<p>Through our study, “Reconciling Perspectives and Building Public Memory: Learning from the Independent Assessment Process,” we established factors that played key roles in healing: giving testimony, and supporting, believing and validating the survivors. This perspective was largely forgotten by the media and instead reports often focused on the credibility of survivors’ claims of abuse, financial compensations and court cases. It was, however, acknowledged in the <a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/media/information/publication/pdf/FinalReport/IAP-FR-2021-03-11-eng.pdf">IAP’s final report</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students sit in classroom at Indian Residential School" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392598/original/file-20210330-21-1m0bp85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cree students sit in class at All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge, Sask., in March 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bud Glunz/Library and Archives Canada, PA-134110)</span></span>
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<p>The dominant narrative conflated success of the IAP with compensation. For example, the secretariat reported success when the claimant garnered a cash settlement (<a href="http://www.iap-pei.ca/stats-eng.php">89 per cent success rate with an average of $91,000 in compensation</a>). And although compensation metrics are certainly one indicator of success, the experiences of survivors telling their stories are key to considering the IAP’s larger goals. </p>
<p>The defensive posture of the federal government recently surfaced. An <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ottawa-stannes-legal-compensation-1.5965483">independent review of claims (specifically those from St. Anne’s Indian Residential School)</a> was recently announced following critiques by survivors and public officials like former senator Murray Sinclair and MP Charlie Angus. </p>
<p>Elected officials in the House of Commons had an opportunity to contribute to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.181">public memory</a> based on meaningful reconciliation, but it was largely swept away in partisan politics. Looking at <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/35-2/house/hansard-index"><em>Hansard Index</em> debates from 2004-19</a>, we found the IAP was discussed only 28 times.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indian-day-school-survivors-are-seeking-truth-and-justice-146655">Indian day school survivors are seeking truth and justice</a>
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<p>The significance of Indian residential school abuses, the damage the system did to families and communities, the litigation and compensation settlements that came after the IAP <a href="https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2016.7.1.3">can only be fully comprehended within Canada’s long history of denial of Indigenous human and gender rights</a>. </p>
<p>The move from explicit systems of violence to concealed structures of domination cannot be mistaken for reconciliation. We must examine the ways in which Indigenous rights are both explicitly and implicitly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.181">advanced</a> or denied: this was highlighted in an earlier IAP study that found that although residential schools taught girls domestic tasks, unpaid work caring for children <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/gender-lens-needed-on-indigenous-claims-415179984.html">was not acknowledged or compensated in the IAP model</a>. </p>
<h2>Remembering for a common future</h2>
<p>We fear additional tragedies are inevitable without abundant data regarding abuse factors, or intergenerational and community impacts. These data add a quantifiable dimension to the horrors of residential schools and remind us of the consequences of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-reconciliation-means-canadians-have-a-duty-to-remember-the-injustice/">racist public policy</a>. Such policy is not just about the individuals impacted; it affects the consciousness of collectives and communities. </p>
<p>Public records are valuable for understanding how public memory is created, and who is directing its narrative. Unless attention is paid to the ways in which the media and Canada continue to decentre Indigenous voices and experiences the colonial gaze will endure. </p>
<p>How residential schools and the IAP are remembered is not only relevant to Canada’s identity but for government-Indigenous and public-Indigenous relations, now and into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cindy Hanson received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Insight Grant) for the study this article is based on.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Curtis J Shuba is a paid research associate on this SSHRC Insight Grant (on which this article is based).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sidey Deska-Gauthier is a paid research associate on this SSHRC Insight Grant (on which this article is based).</span></em></p>The destruction of IAP residential school records and media reports that continually emphasize compensation will ensure that if remembered, the process will be remembered through a colonial gaze.Cindy Hanson, Professor, Dept of Sociology and Social Studies, University of ReginaCurtis J Shuba, Research Associate, Sociology and Social Studies, University of ReginaSidey Deska-Gauthier, Research Associate, Political Science, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.