Tom Mulcair says the first step in responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report on residential schools is to implement a “nation-to-nation” approach with First Nations, making education the number-one priority.
The only way we can truly reconcile is to start with family, and educators can become part of the extended family.
This can be part of a “nation-to-nation” approach. Jacqui Gingras (NDP candidate, North Okanagan-Shuswap) wants you to know that you are being heard and will take the TRC report seriously and realistically.
I believe that listening to the 7,000 voices within the report can be an educational experience in itself.
Now that the TRC report has come out, we have to think of Canada’s tragedy, the legacy of residential schools.
According to the report, at least 3,000 students died mostly from disease.
The assimilation of children being taken away from their families to instill a policy of “killing the Indian in the child” is now known as cultural genocide.
The legacy of this tragic history from the 1840s to 1996 reminds us that these wounds are still fresh and families are still struggling to make themselves heard.
It is hard to make it without love and a family is at the core for inner peace and resilience.
I believe once the truth of the TRC becomes common knowledge, we can begin to see the world for what it is and have the power to change it for the better.
Jake Goertzen
