Legacy of misery not a myth

Page 4

The Assembly of First Nations' study on residential schools entitled Breaking the Silence has - among other things - made a lot of people very uncomfortable. In Natives creating residential school myth, written by columnist William Johnson for Southam News, Johnson accused National Grand Chief Ovide Mercredi of using words that "illustrate the verbal and ideological overkill which has become characteristic of the AFN. The same ideological excess is evident in the study itself Breaking the Silence...

In the remainder of the column, Johnson (not unlike many other White Canadians) attempts to sanitize the ugly truth of Canada's past, in regards to residential schools. First, he blames the victim, accusing all Natives of "creating a residential school myth."

Then predictably - like a man beset with guilt - he tries to justify his own perspective. Relying on what I assume is meant to be journalistic objectivity/integrity and critical analysis, he proceeds - by implication - to discredit the AFN's initiative and, with a much more direct assault, the study. He writes "the title Breaking the Silence suggests that the horrors of resident school are a well-kept secret which is not to be revealed. In fact, if there is a secret, it has been shouted form the four corners of this country for the past several years."

Most shamefully, Johnson's subsequent reference to Basil Johnston's "excellent book...Indian School Days...(which) gave a full, excellent and mature account of Johnston's experiences at an Indian residential school" smacks of the only too familiar

"I once had an Indian friend" defensive response against racism.

As a survivor (and thankfully the last family member out of four generations) of the many horrors of residential school, I responded to Johnson's article in the same way Jewish holocaust survivors respond to White supremacist' lies about the so-called "Jewish Conspiracy". While I understand that ignorance (which Johnson clearly exemplifies in comments like "the report manages to shout that the residential schools are responsible for all the ills that beset Native communities") generally cloud one's better judgment, I think it's appalling that newspapers willingly and knowingly pay for such ignorance. Moreover, how can a so-called professional columnist totally disregard thousands of First Nations peoples' painful memories with comments like "The Myth of vicitimization. Victimization. Victimization is the favorite story told By the Assembly of First Nations"?