THE URBANE INDIAN - Aabwehyehnmigziwin fits into Conservatives agenda

Aabwehyehnmigziwin ­ that's the Anishnawbe word for apology. That's what Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered in the House of Commons last week to Residential school survivors. Paraphrasing the immortal words of singer Connie Francis (who by the way was not Native), he said essentially "I'm sorry, dear. So sorry." And the First Nations people of Canada listened. There were thousands of Native people on the front lawn of the Parliament Buildings alone, eager to hear it. Televisions were set up in community centres in Native communities all across the country. And the people cried. They cried at the memory of what had been done, and what was being said. Harper made a lot of people cry, but it was a good cry.
Since the late 1800's, over 150,000 Native children were forcibly taken away from their families, and shipped off to 130 plus schools scattered across seven provinces and two territories. There they were then robbed of their language, their beliefs, their self respect, their culture and in some cases, their very existence. The key phrase I kept hearing during the apology and in the opposition responses was the misguided belief that "in order to save the child, we must destroy the Indian." Yet another fine government policy like the Chinese head tax or a belief that you can't date female lobbyists who had previous boyfriends.
The official Aabwehyehnmigziwin was a long time in coming, and hopefully it closes the book on this sad chapter and a new book can begin, this time with Aboriginal people as co-authors. All of the churches who ran Residential schools, Roman Catholic, United, Anglican and Presbyterian, have all issued their own version of aabwehyehnmigziwin. In 1998, then Minister of Indian Affairs Jane Stewart offered a kind of an early, wimpy version, something about having "sincere regrets". I have a lot of sincere regrets too. Most people do. I have had sincere regrets about some of my past relationships but that doesn't mean I apologize for them. Big difference.
Perhaps it's my working class origins and artsy nature but I do find it odd though that it's the Conservative government who have found the balls to issue the aabwehyehnmigziwin. You would think the Residential school system would be something the Conservatives would admire. It fits into their political and financial agenda. The government managed to download much of the cost of educating the youth from over 600 reserves spread across the world's second biggest country, as promised in a number of treaties, to four Churches. On the surface, sounds like a sound economic decision.
I guess apologizing wasn't high on the Liberals to-do list. Trudeau didn't want to bother with an aabwehyehnmigziwin. He felt it would just open the floodgates to more apologies for other road bumps in Canadian history. And Chretien didn't believe current social beliefs should be applied to past issues. Yet it was Mulroney's Conservatives that issued an apology to Japanese Canadians for the country's misdoings during World War Two. And now Harper regarding the Aboriginal people. Who'd a thunk it?
It should also be mentioned that it was the Conservatives that gave Native people the vote in 1960. Way to go Conservatives, now there's a phrase I thought I'd never say. I guess that's why the Ojibways call Stephen Harper the Kichi Toodooshaabowimiijim, which literally translates as "the Big Cheese".
Was the aabwehyehnmigziwin sincere and do I buy it? Yes I suppose I do, though by very definition politicians shouldn't be trusted or believed any more then a Jerry Springer guest. Especially when it comes to commitments to Native people. But Harper looked sincere. So did Dion, Ducepe and Layton-all privileged White men. Its amazing how a good education can make you the empathetic leader of a federal party, and a bad education can get you an aabwehyehnmigziwin. They probably listened to Connie Francis. Nobody could apologize like her.
Many of the Native people watching that historic aabwehyehnmigziwin were not survivors. But I think it's safe to say they were all affected by the practice in some way.
We all knew somebody, several somebodies, who went there, or were descended from a survivor, and as a result was forced to deal with the repercussions of that experience.
That apology was for all of us. Just as all Jews were affected by the Holocaust in some way, all Native people were victims of what happened in those institutions.
What happens now? I don't know. Maybe Phil Fontaine and the gang should contact Mayer Arar. He might have some suggestions. If memory serves me correctly, Mr. Arar was kidnapped suddenly for no logical reason, taken far away from his family for a long time, beaten, starved and terrified. He finally returned a changed man, seeking justice. Geez, you'd think he was a Native kid or something.