On June 2, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released a report on its five-year, $60-million study of Canada’s residential schools, and the damaging affect it had on First Nations, Inuit and Metis children.
Residential schools were started in the 1840s, and they were run by governments and churches. The last of the residential schools closed in 1996.
Around 150,000 children were ripped away from their homes to attend these facilities, and an estimated 80,000 survivors are alive today.
Some 7,000 survivors talked to the TRC about their horrific experiences at the residential schools.
In his closing remarks, TRC chair Justice Murray Sinclair noted many of the survivors’ stories were difficult to listen to because they involved the physical, sexual and mental abuse they suffered, which too often characterized the residential schools.
Most agree this was one of Canada’s darkest times.
These schools were run under a mandate to “take the Indian out of the child.”
The goal was to force the assimilation of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.
However, the children developed deep scars from being taken away from their families, stripped of their identities and traditions, and being beaten if they spoke in their native tongue and not English, as well as sexual, physical and mental abuse.
In many cases, the scars these children took with them when they left the residential schools stunted their emotional development and self-esteem, which grew into feelings of being lost, anger and detachment from their families when they returned to their communities.
This, in turn, led to alcohol and drug abuse, violent rages and crimes, which led to misguided decision-making, violent deaths and incarceration.
In many cases, the scars have been passed on through the generations.
The TRC disclosed the truth about the horrors of the residential school system and the negative impact it has had on Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.
All Canadians will have to accept and learn to understand these truths and be prepared to make changes so there can be real reconciliation with our country’s first people.
The commission made 94 recommendations to lead to reconciliation, and education is a key component.
We, as adults, can no longer ignore the atrocities of the residential school system. We need to study the report to educate ourselves and have our schools teach our children how to lead the way to reconciliation through our federal, provincial and territorial governments.
The road to reconciliation will be long and it will require a lot of work by everyone.
Perhaps the best starting point would be ensuring aboriginal children have the same quality of life as all non-aboriginal children.
