Government needs to get up-front and personal with residential school survivors [editorial]

It’s more than a little bit disturbing that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is complaining about the lack of federal involvement in their statement gathering hearings. Does Prime Minister Stephen Harper believe that the 2008 apology for the residential school system is enough to absolve Canada’s Government of its responsibility on this issue? It’s not.

As far as we’re concerned, if the churches that ran these schools can send representatives to bear witness to the survivors’ stories and stand with them in the design of a better future where such atrocities are never allowed to occur again, then a willing partner in this bright future should be Canada.

But now it seems that the same blind eye that allowed pedophiles and vicious brutes to ply their evil in the schools over past decades, remains today. Should there not be some oversight? Should there not be some interest in this process as it unfolds across the country?

The TRC is not government, nor does it represent government, and it’s not good enough just to wait for a commission report to hit some desk in government to say, ‘well, now, that little bit of ugly business is behind us.’ Such an attitude does not bode well for true reconciliation anytime soon.

In fact, it’s an insulting slap in the face to the Aboriginal people involved in bearing their souls for the benefit of this country—to put the sad and sick history of residential schools on the record so that future generations can never say it never happened or it wasn’t all that bad—that they are doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to this process. The settlement agreement will not be fulfilled in the spirit in which it was negotiated unless something in Ottawa’s dark heart changes.

Reconciliation must be a personal act filled with the knowledge of the past wrongs with a commitment of working toward a healthier relationship going forward. Canadians are taking part in the process in large numbers. They are engaged. Why isn’t their government? Aboriginal hands are reaching out, yet government doesn’t seem to want to grasp ahold of them, or be bothered with the whole distasteful thing.

It should be mandatory that a member of the federal government sit and listen each time the hearings are held. Those people should be acknowledged as being in attendance and stand when a survivor asks to speak directly with government, because what the churches are finding is that when they demonstrate they care about this terrible time and the impacts that continue to reverberate throughout the generations, their caring is rewarded with forgiveness.

Aboriginal people have a great capacity for forgiveness. They want the burden of carrying around this monkey on their backs relieved and government needs to help in that effort by being present. A compassionate government that considers their suffering important enough to be represented at the hearings would go a long way to helping lift survivors back up on their feet.

Instead, what is being communicated is that this understanding of their grim reality is not important enough to expend resources. Government must be seen to be carrying their share of the load, and until now, government has given this responsibility a pass.

The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation is not over. Canada still has a chance to be perceived as doing the right thing. Government’s response to the commission’s criticism will tell if the settlement agreement was just a line item on the books, or a real and true commitment to change.

We’ll see if they’ll be putting in some time when the hearings reach Victoria, BC mid-month.

Windspeaker