The Truth Hurts: Education through stories at the TRC

Last week the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Indian Residential Schools was officially launched in Winnipeg. Those present included Murray Sinclair and the other commissioners, government officials such as the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Chuck Strahl, Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit people from across the country, representatives from the four national churches who ran the schools, and the general public.

This was the first opportunity for many residential school survivors to share their stories with the Canadian public. Emotions were running high for those testifying, as well as those listening. The truth stirred up memories among survivors, and regret among the others.

As a representative of the government of Canada, or of the people of Canada, how do you respond to such stories of stolen childhood, broken families, and hardship? Minister Strahl and others were moved to tears in recognizing the attitudes and policies that led to the creation and maintenance of these schools.

For many Canadians, this will be one of the first opportunities to learn about the legacy of the residential schools. It is something that has gotten quite a bit more attention in the media in recent years, especially after Prime Minister Harper’s apology in 2008, but there is still so much to learn.

For me, I am sad to say I did not know much about this particular legacy until one of my last years in university. Up until then I mainly studied human rights violations from around the world, but one of my professors was very good about bringing the subjects home, looking at Canada’s involvement in such violations, including the creation of the residential schools.

Families were torn apart, children were forcefully taken from their homes, and hundreds of thousands of children lie to this day in unmarked graves around former schools, their families never knowing what really became of them. All of this led to poverty, broken communities, despair, and a lost culture. These are just some of the stories and impacts of the residential schools.

The reality of the schools and the situation in which they left many Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit families is something that is difficult, but necessary to hear. And it is a chance for the people most hurt by the schools to find some kind of healing, empathy and change from the people of Canada. It is a dark legacy, but how can we move forward together, and how can we work to rebuild relations if we do not understand the issues that divided our nation in the first place?

The first step to change is recognition of a problem or past wrong. Let us hope the stories will inspire genuine and real changes, as well as unity among the Canadian people.