Alberta Sweetgrass - April 2014 WHAT'S INSIDE:
Heart ache, emotions overwhelm honourary witnesses
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Page 3 The journey of intergenerational trauma from anger to reconciliation Page 5
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PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
People crowd into the mainhall to listen to survivors’ statements at the Commissioners’ Sharing Panel. at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final national event held in Edmonton. Cleansing, healing, sharing, learning were all evident in the four-day event that ran from March 27-30 with 3,243 survivors registered, 420 statements gathered, and attendance averaging 8,500 each day.
Final event shows road to reconciliation will be a long one By Shari Narine Contributing Editor EDMONTON
After a week of milder weather in Edmonton, the opening day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final national event was met with snowfall. “An Elder told me the snow came because it’s a form of cleansing,” said Assembly of First Nations Alberta Regional Chief Cameron Alexis, who addressed a packed hall at the Shaw Conference Centre. Cleansing, healing, sharing, learning were all evident in the four-day event that ran from March 27-30 with 3,243 survivors registered, 420 statements gathered, and attendance averaging 8,500 each day. Federal, provincial and municipal governments committed to various acts that would lead to both the sharing of Canada’s darkest period of history as well as working toward reconciliation. Youth stood strong willing to take on the mantle of leadership. Churches beyond the four that signed the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement apologized and pledged to walking the path with survivors and their families. Honourary witnesses promised to follow through with their task of
teaching about the legacy of residential schools. People from around the world tuned into the TRC’s webcast with over 30,000 streams to 36 countries. “I am inspired by the stories that we have heard and the dialogue and commitment to reconciliation that we have witnessed… I have been moved by the incredible generosity of spirit that we have seen from survivors and from the intergenerational survivors… I was brought to tears by the acts of love you showed each other,” said TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair in the closing ceremony. Edmonton marked the last of seven national events to be hosted by the TRC, through the mandate it received from the IRSSA. The first event was held in Winnipeg in 2010. The closing ceremony is a single day event to take place in Ottawa in 2015. The TRC received a one-year extension on its original five-year mandate. Sinclair said the TRC may hold a series of one day events in the coming year throughout the country in order to hear from more survivors and their descendants. Sinclair noted that in moving forward on the issue of
reconciliation, the commission will be meeting with specific groups, including Elders, youth, women, the lesbian-gaybisexual-transgender community, to hear what they think the TRC should say about reconciliation in the final report. Sinclair warned that achieving reconciliation will not be easy. “Reconciliation is going to be damned hard work. If you thought the truth was hard, reconciliation is going to be even harder,” he said. “By discovering what we have discovered and what we have talked about and what we have (told) the Canadian public, we have revealed things that people did not expect to know, that people did not expect to see and hear about. And it has caused anger on the part of survivors and their families. It has caused anger in the Aboriginal community generally. It has caused anger from the part of those who get the blame about all of this.” Responding to that reaction, said Sinclair, will be a vital part of the commission’s work. “We have to put forward a plan that takes into account that anger, which we have… helped to create by opening this doorway. But anything that
results from a dialogue that does not include that knowledge would be useless,” he said. “That is why we must now embark on that conversation of reconciliation.” In writing the final report, a task the commission has already begun, Sinclair said academics and political leaders will have role to play. “We want the voice of our report to be strong, we want it to be inclusive and we want it to be in a direction that people understand,” said Sinclair. He also stressed that youth will be driving this move to reconciliation and while “we need to… ensure that they are aware of the past (we must ensure) they do not carry all the burdens of the past including the frustration, the anger and the pain.” In a poignant moment prior to the closing ceremony, David Langtry, acting chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and one of the newly inducted honourary witnesses, offered for the Bentwood box two blankets that wrapped his twin grandchildren. The blankets, he said, were “an acknowledgement that nonAboriginal Canadians failed in our collective responsibility to
protect and nurture thousands of Aboriginal children from coast to coast to coast. Not only did we fail in that responsibility but we caused grave and sometimes irreparable harm. We acknowledge this past, accept responsibility and ask your forgiveness. But finally, though, I give these blankets to reflect my hope that the generation of my grandchildren will be the generation that realizes true reconciliation and equality with Aboriginal peoples.” CANADIAN PUBLICATION MAIL # 40063755
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ALBERTA NEWS New oil and gas leases, license disturb caribou ranges The Alberta Wilderness Association says the Alberta government has auctioned more new oil and gas leases/licenses allowing surface disturbance within its threatened woodland caribou ranges since October 2012 when the federal caribou recovery strategy mandated provinces to start developing plans to protect caribou habitat. Alberta has also announced that by April 30 it plans to sell even more leases/ licenses in five caribou ranges. “Alberta’s ongoing energy leasing in caribou ranges leads directly to more surface disturbance, which increases the already high risks to its threatened caribou,” said Carolyn Campbell, conservation specialist at AWA, in a news release. “This undermines the federal caribou strategy requiring provinces to reduce risks to their caribou, and violates Alberta’s own stated caribou policy†priority to maintain caribou habitat. Alberta must stop this irresponsible disregard for the basic survival requirements of caribou, or we will lose these populations within a few decades.” All Alberta boreal caribou populations have habitat disturbance levels well beyond the maximum 35 per cent threshold set in the federal strategy. PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
Warrior Paint project part of TRC Education Day Sherri Rinkel Mackay (standing) teacher from Glenbow School, in Cochrane, directs students from Pakan school, in Good Fish Lake (from left)) Alainna Favel, teacher Kim Faithful, Raelee Cardinal, and Lakeisha Halfe in the Warrior Paint project during Education Day at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s seventh and final national event in Edmonton. Last year, the First Nations and Métis Grade 1-4 students from Glenbow School sold the Warrior Paint project cards to raise money for the Iyahrhe Nakoda food bank.
Cancer information released to public, not Fort Chipewyan First Nations The release of a report about the state of cancer in the Fort Chipewyan area has First Nations leaders incensed despite Alberta Chief Medical Offer Dr. James Talbot’s claim that the government’s hand was forced through a request for information put in by a third party. “This is gross negligence. The leaders of Fort Chipewyan have been requesting a thorough analysis on incidences of cancer in our community for years. Not only was this research and study done without our direct participation we were left in the dark about key findings and the announcement of the release to the public,” said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam in a news release. “This behaviour is once again reminiscent of the way the government of Alberta has treated our community in relation to the public release of cancer statistics related to our community,” said Mikisew First Nation Chief Steve Courtoreille, in a news release. The findings from the report, which covers 1992-2011, indicate that cancer rates in the area are on par with the rest of Alberta, although there are reasons to be concerned about cervical, biliary tract and lung cancers. However, none of these are environment-related. Talbot said children under 15 who had cancer were more likely to be impacted by environmental causes, but there are no such reported cases of cancer in the region for that demographic, which Talbot said is “reassuring.” Talbot was clear that the information he related was not from a study, but from ongoing work undertaken by Cancer Control Alberta.
Redford resigns amidst spending controversy Premier Allison Redford stepped down on March 23, turning over the reins of the province to David Hancock. She announced her intention on March 20. Redford was a strong proponent of controversial pipeline projects that were being protested by First Nations and Energy Minister Diana McQueen said the government will continue to back proposals from Enbridge, Kinder Morgan and TransCanada. Redford came under heavy criticism for her $45,000 price tag on her South African trip for President Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Redford, a lawyer, was elected to the Alberta legislature in 2008 and led the PC party to a majority in the April 2012 election. She will remain as the MLA for Calgary-Elbow.
Dover oil sands project receives Cabinet approval Brion Energy Corp.’s Dover oil sands project was given approval by the Alberta cabinet on March 13 after the company and Fort McKay First Nation
reached an out-of-court agreement. The Dover oil sands project is a 250,000-barrel-a-day steam-driven bitumen project. Brion is 60-per-cent owned by PetroChina; Calgary-based Athabasca Oil Corp. has the rest. Brion still requires an approval from the province’s environment department, a process that normally takes two to four weeks following the cabinet decision. The project received conditional approval from the Alberta Energy Regulator last summer, but was held up when Fort McKay disputed the decision, and was granted leave to appeal in court. No details were released regarding the agreement struck between the oil company and the First Nation, although a 20kilometre buffer zone, for which Fort McKay First Nation had been pressing, was not granted. That buffer zone, said Fort McKay officials, is a talk that needs to happen with the government.
Further consultation with Aboriginal groups for southern land-use plan Robin Campbell, minister of Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, said he will be consulting with Aboriginal communities before finishing up a land-use plan for southern Alberta. “I’ve asked my department to take a second look at some things because I want to make sure we’re doing it right and that we’ve engaged all of the stakeholders,” Campbell told the Calgary Herald. The upcoming South Saskatchewan plan covers all of southern Alberta, which includes 13 First Nations and one Métis nation. Campbell said he’s hired former Siksika Chief Fred Rabbit Carrier to meet with southern Alberta Elders and community members. Further consultations are not expected to delay release of the plans, says a department spokesperson. The plan is expected this spring.
First Nations among the less than 20 per cent granted full status Dozens of First Nations are among the 400 interveners the National Energy Board has accepted for the upcoming Kinder Morgan proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion hearing, slated to begin in August. More than 2,118 applications were received seeking intervener status for Kinder Morgan’s $5.4 billion pipeline expansion from Alberta to the company’s Westridge terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia. Intervener status was also granted to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Environment Canada, and the Alberta and BC provincial governments. Written submissions will be accepted from an additional 1,250 individuals and groups. Changes to the NEB, effective July 2012, limit participation in the hearing to those directly impacted by the project as well as those with specific expertise or information.
Syncrude hits $2-billion mark with Aboriginal businesses Syncrude has reached a major milestone by passing the $2-billion mark in business conducted with Aboriginal-owned companies. Syncrude first began tracking the amount of goods and services procured from Aboriginal-owned companies in 1992 as part of its commitment to business development in its Aboriginal Relations Program. “Even before we began production in 1978, Syncrude’s founding president Frank Spragins insisted the wealth created from oil sands development should benefit Aboriginal communities in the region,” said Syncrude President and CEO Scott Sullivan, in a news release. “We have established excellent long-term partnerships with Aboriginal-owned contractors, who have delivered high quality goods and services safely.” The $1-billion threshold for business conducted between Syncrude and Aboriginal-owned companies was crossed in 2006. Syncrude does business with more than 25 Aboriginal-owned companies based in Wood Buffalo and is a founding member of the Northeastern Alberta Aboriginal Business Association.
Public input on child intervention rountable sought
New endowment award at U of L told help Indigenous students
The public has until April 11 to respond to the government’s report from the January roundtable on child intervention. The roundtable, while heavy on experts and those who work in the system, was light on Aboriginal representation and those who were part of the child welfare system. Approximately 68 per cent of children in government care are Aboriginal. There was a strong consensus that all child deaths should be investigated; that the child death review process be structured and transparent; and that more information on the investigations be made public. Online input into the report from the public is being accepted. “It is my hope that Albertans will take the time to help me drive change and improve our services to Alberta’s most vulnerable,” said Human Services Minister Manmeet S. Bhullar, in a news release.
Compiled by Shari Narine
The new Masson Family Endowment and Masson Family First Nations Transition Program Award at the University of Lethbridge will support both the university’s First Nations Transition Program as well as individual FNTP students. Alumnus Richard Masson, who established the fund, said, “I started with pretty meager financial resources, so I’m a big believer in helping students out financially.” Masson is CEO at the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission. The FNTP assists incoming students, students returning to university education after an absence to make a smooth transition. The program has as its goal to increase university attendance by and success of First Nations, Inuit and Métis students.
NEWS
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Heart ache, emotions overwhelm honourary witnesses By Shari Narine
Contributing Sweetgrass Editor EDMONTON
Emotions ran the gamut from forgiveness to anger to guilt to horror as honourary witnesses shared their reflections over the four-day national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In an already emotionally charged statement, Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson broke down when he personalized the experience of children being taken from reserves and put into residential schools. “I heard the testimonies of survivors who were taken from their families at about the same age my little boy is now and I can only begin to imagine the heart ache of the parents and the trauma to the child,” said Iveson. Iveson was one of a dozen people inducted as honourary witnesses in the seventh and final national event hosted by the TRC. Honourary witnesses are prominent public figures who are tasked with listening and then sharing what they have learned with others. Dr. Mary Simon, former president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, shared her heartbreaking story of the guilt she felt as all the children in her Nunavik community were taken to residential school but she and her siblings remained at home after she completed Grade 6. They were homeschooled by her father, a white man who spoke three or four dialects of Inukitut. After church on Sunday afternoons, Simon’s grandmother would take her and her siblings to visit the
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PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson shakes hands with TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair as Commissioners Marie Wilson and Wilton Littlechild watch on.
homes of parents who no longer had their children. “We saw the parents, who had to let their children go…crying and grieving all winter,” said Simon, speaking through sobs. “So when I grew up I felt guilty. I felt I shouldn’t have had the comfort and love my parents gave me when I was growing up.” TRC Commissioner Marie Wilson stood with a hand on Simon’s back as Simon spoke about the“deep depression” she went through at 40 years of age. “I recovered over a period of time and today I’m strong, I am a happy person, I know that my people love me,” she said. Mikisew Cree Nation
member David Tuccaro spent four years in residential school, one year in Fort Chipewyan and three years in Grandin College, in Fort Smith, NWT. “Today I wrote on a board in the other room, ‘I’m a survivor.’ It was alright. I’ve never done that before,” said Tuccaro, who owns and operates seven companies in Fort McMurray. With his voice wavering, Tuccaro told how his brother was publicly humiliated at residential school, pulled by his ears until they were red. When their mother came to visit and saw the condition of her son, she took her children back with her. “And, Mom, it’s not your fault,” Tuccaro said.
That same brother, Tuccaro added, is general manager of one of Tuccaro’s companies, which will generate $55 million in revenue this year. Dr. Evan Adams, Deputy Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia and actor, shared that both his parents attended residential school. He talked about being at another TRC event, where he was asked to speak. “I followed a nun who said, to the audience, ‘For the most part my colleagues were trying to do their very best.’ And I was filled with such a fury for so many hours, I could not sit still and finally cried my eyes out trying to resolve it, what I was
feeling,” said Adams. “And I think as an intergenerational survivor, of course, we wished that our Elders and family members had better lives than they received.” For the past 12 years, Adams has worked with Aboriginal people, many of them at the end of their lives. He spoke of one patient, “She absolutely reminded me that the point of our lives is not to be sad or to hate or to get fancy degrees or to be self-important or to get the best of each other, but to be extraordinary human beings…. Today I leave completely happy that so many of you have found greatness inside of yourselves as our ancestors would have us.”
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NEWS
Acts of reconciliation need to begin now
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Acting Premier David Hancock and Speaker of the Assembly Gene Zwozdesky joined the marchers near the Legislature on March 30 as the residential school survivors and supporters walked from the Shaw Conference Centre. Sweetgrass Contributing Editor EDMONTON
The Alberta government has pledged to create a new curriculum that will see kindergarten to Grade 12 students learn about the legacy of residential schools, about First Nation treaties, and receive the Aboriginal perspective. The mayors of Edmonton, Calgary and Wetaskiwin have declared Years of Reconciliation for their cities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be on agendas when mid-sized cities across Alberta as well as the Northern Alberta Mayors and Reeves caucus next meet. The TRC will also be on the agenda when 22 cities representing two-thirds of the country’s population gather. Churches beyond the four who signed the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement have taken responsibility for their actions in remaining silent when Aboriginal children were taken and have asked for forgiveness, pledged to educate their congregations, asked for opportunities to keep listening to residential school survivors, and committed to walking alongside survivors and their descendants. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson asked Aboriginal leaders to encourage their youth to seek employment in the RCMP and pledged to provide professional and culturallysensitive police services to the Aboriginal population. Joe Juneau, former NHL player and honourary witness
inductee, is one of many who has engaged in “accidental” acts of reconciliation. Juneau spent time connecting with children and forming relationships in northern Quebec through hockey. Whether newly pledged, intentional or unintentional , the non-Aboriginal community has been supporting Aboriginal peoples and many committed in a more direct way at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final national event in Edmonton March 2730 to continue that work. But pledging for the future does not mean action is not needed now. “The relationship between Indigenous leaders and successive national governments has too often been fractious and disappointing. Moreover in my view, there has been a decline in the genuine interest of Indigenous issues shown by the non-Indigenous Canadians,” said former Prime Minister Joe Clark, who was previously inducted as an honourary witness. Treaty rights are not being adhered to. Full consultation is not happening at all levels of governmen. Recommendations that have come through various accords and agreements have not been followed through. The federal government is not undertaking a national public inquiry into murdered and missing Aboriginal women and girls. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, and a newly inducted honourary witness, drew attention to a battle that is
presently being waged against the federal government. Her organization has been joined by the Assembly of First Nations and others in a case in front of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, in which the Canadian government is accused of not caring for children on reserve in the same monetary fashion as children living off-reserve. “The discrimination by the government of Canada continues,” Blackstock said. Getting a strong commitment for reconciliation is important, said Justice Frank Iacobucci, who served as the federal government’s negotiator for the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, and who was also inducted as an honourary witness. “Although the report of the TRC will be again crucially important, even more important will be to give meaning and implementation to the words and spirit of their report. And this calls on all Canadians, not just Aboriginals, to support a pathway forward to establish a harmonious, respectful, collaborative partnership between Canada and its Aboriginal people,” he said. As part of that “pathway forward,” Wab Kinew, director of Indigenous Inclusion at the University of Winnipeg, called for the establishment of a national holiday in remembrance of survivors of Indian residential schools. “That we spend that day every year hearing their stories again, reminding ourselves of what happened here in these lands, and committing to never letting them happen again,” said Kinew.
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The journey of intergenerational trauma from anger to reconciliation By Paula E. Kirman Sweetgrass Writer EDMONTON
There is a Siksika asteroid in the sky. It was named by Robert Cardinal after his Nation. Cardinal, 44, is an astronomer with the Canadian Space Agency. He is also a secondgeneration residential school survivor. He told his story to Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson, as well as a packed room. Born in 1969 in Calgary, Cardinal was given up for adoption by his birth mother, who was emotionally unable to care for him due to her residential school experiences and “wanted me to have a chance at a better life than she thought she could provide,” he said. Five days after registering him with Siksika Nation he became a ward of the government and 18 months later was adopted by a single mother who already had a daughter. They lived at the
PHOTO: PAULA E. KIRMAN
Robert Cardinal received support from mentor Dr. Maggie Hodgson as he spoke.
time in the Garneau area of Edmonton. Still, the intergenerational wounds of residential school were already evident in the young Cardinal. “People think
if you’re adopted into a decent home and given a decent upbringing you’ll be fine. But it just isn’t true, That intergenerational trauma is in your DNA; it is in your blood.
That quest for who you are.” He harboured a deep shame over his Aboriginal background. “My mom tells me a story of when I was four or five and she found me in the bathtub and I was scrubbing my skin relentlessly. She asked me what I was doing and I said ‘I don’t want to be an Indian. I want to be white.’” He grew angrier and more disillusioned as he entered his teens, dealing with racism that got worse after the family moved to Rocky Mountain House. At the age of 15 Cardinal was taken by his mother to a pipe ceremony, his very first traditional ceremony. He received an eagle feather and hand drum. However, over the next five years Cardinal was “in a tailspin of self-destruction” and became an addict, dropped out of school, and ended up on the street. He was hospitalized for three months with severe depression. At the root was his anger. “What was taken from me was all of my family, my culture, my language – things that should have been my birthright.”
Cardinal began to turn his life around by getting help at the Poundmaker’s Lodge residential addictions treatment centre in St. Albert. It was here that he reconnected with his cultural heritage, attending ceremonies, and learning about his background. “It was like Indian 101. I did not know so many things. I was shown how to smudge. I was shown ceremony. That was when the shame started to leave me a little bit.” He later met his wife in Edmonton, got married, and started a family. Cardinal has been married for 22 years and is the father of two sons. “My truth and reconciliation began back then. The reconciliation that helped me was reconciling inside myself with who I was.” He moved to Victoria to go to university, where his first son was born. He made a promise that if he ever had children, that they would never be without their father. Cardinal has a degree in physics and astronomy. He works on a science team for the Canadian Space Agency and builds telescopes and computers, writing software to hunt for asteroids. He credits people who encouraged him like teachers and his mentor Dr. Maggie Hodgson and believes that gratitude is an important part of healing. “I literally woke up on the street one day with nothing, but eventually I learned to be grateful for even that. Even your next breath is a gift. Forgiving myself, forgiving society for situations I had to deal with – those things lead to compassion: compassion for myself and compassion for others. For many years I only had anger and no other emotions.” He recently reconnected with his birth family, which has helped in his journey of selfdiscovery. “I can’t tell you how much it means, but if I can help other people reconnect with their family, that is my dream.”
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EDMONTON United Church congregation acts out reconciliation efforts
PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
Celebrating forgotten birthdays in style The Métis fiddlers from Prince Charles school performed at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s birthday party on the final day of the seventh national event. The birthday celebrations recognize all those children who attended residential schools but never had their birthdays marked.
Blackstone leads way with Rosie nominations Blackstone, a series produced by Prairie Dog Film + Television, earned 13 nominations for the 2014 Alberta Film & Television Awards, also known as the Rosies. Blackstone, a gritty made-inEdmonton television drama about power and politics on a fictional First Nations reserve, was also a finalist this year in five categories, including best dramatic series, at the prestigious Canadian Screen Awards. Prairie Dog, an Edmonton company, had the most nominations, with 16. The show will begin filming its fourth season this spring. Winners will be announced at the awards gala April 12 in Calgary.
Mayor’s task force on poverty Mark Holmgren, CEO of Bissell Centre, is one of 16 people named to Mayor Don Iveson’s task force to eliminate poverty. A member from the Aboriginal community will also be joining the task force. The task force includes members from the University of Alberta, the business sector, non-profit sector, and the clergy. The mandate of the task force is to prepare and present city council with a report on poverty in Edmonton which includes information on the nature, extent, and causes of poverty within the Edmonton region; a concrete plan for eliminating poverty in Edmonton within a generation; and recommendations on how to implement the plan.
Inductees in Aboriginal Walk of Honour MLA Pearl Calahasen, architect Douglas Cardinal, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Métis Nation of Alberta president Audrey Poitras were inducted into the Dreamspeakers Festival Society’s Aboriginal Walk of Honour on March 29. The four Aboriginal leaders placed their handprints into a concrete block. Calahasen, first Aboriginal woman elected to public office in Alberta, is the longest serving female MLA in Alberta history and was minister of a number of Cabinet portfolios. Cardinal’s architectural work is influenced by his Aboriginal heritage. His most notable designs are the Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museum of the American Indian, and Edmonton Space and Science Centre. Littlechild is a member of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Poitras is one of the highest profile Métis women in Canada, the first woman elected to lead the MNA and the person to hold that position the longest.
2014 ROOPH award winners Former Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, who established the Edmonton Committee to End Homelessness, was named the 2014 winner of the Larry Shaben Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Housing Sector. In 2009, Mandel and city council unanimously adopted A Place to Call Home – Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. Colleen Mustus, of the Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society, won Outstanding Service for the Aboriginal Community. She has brought the education and practice of Culture and Spirituality to positively impact growth and stability for participants in the Nikihk Aboriginal Housing First Program. Other ROOPH winners are Capital Region Housing Corporation – Parkdale Residential for Excellence in Building Design; Miles Kohan and Annu Kaul for Exceptional Volunteerism in the Housing Sector; and Linda Hut, City Hall School – City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Public School Board for Partnerships for Success. Recognizing Outstanding Organizations and People in Housing (ROOPH) Awards are handed out annually by Homeward Trust Edmonton.
Compiled by Shari Narine
PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
“I have been affected because of people in my family who attended residential school and because of our whole nation so I try to come and learn and to be part of the healing we want to take place,” said Anglican Reverend Lily Bell from Haida Gwai, who took in the United Church display at the TRC event.
By Heather Andrews Miller Sweetgrass Writer EDMONTON
As the momentum of the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission event was building both nationally and locally, members of Edmonton’s St. Andrew’s United Church wanted to get involved. “We recognize the contribution of the First Nations in Canada’s development but we also were painfully aware of the legacy that the residential schools left on several generations,” said Rev. Geoffrey Wilfong-Pritchard, the minister at the west end church. “With the United Church being one of the institutions that operated some of the notorious schools, we felt that we wanted to participate in whichever way we could.” With the Edmonton event being the last in a series of national events which were conducted over the past four years, the 200-member congregation had heard of the emotional sessions in other locations around the country. And as soon as they were told of some practical activities in which they could participate, they jumped at the chance. “We have some marvellous sewers and knitters amongst us and it wasn’t long before many members were making prayer shawls and lap quilts,” said Wilfong-Pritchard. “And when the call came out for cupcakes and birthday cards, it was answered enthusiastically as well.” But perhaps the activity that had the most impact on the congregants was the address by
Rev. Cecile Fausak, who is an Alberta-based preacher but is also the national staff person as liaison minister for residential schools for nine years, helping the United Church to live out apologies which were offered in 1986 and 1998. The first apology addressed issues related to the church’s role in imposing European culture on First Nations’ peoples and the second addressed the harm caused by Indian residential schools more specifically. The apologies were recognized and acknowledged by the Elders, but the church was challenged to live out the words by actions of reconciliation before they would be accepted. “There is no doubt that there has been a breach between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in this land,” she told the attentive audience. “First the treaties were not honoured and then the pressure grew to clear the lands for settlement. The
Indians were viewed as a problem. The children were taken from their families and home communities to facilitate assimilation.” The apologies were the beginning, and the United Church took up the challenge to “walk the talk” and begin the healing. As the morning service continued, Fausak’s words, the prayers she led, and the drums that beat, left the St. Andrew’s members with a new understanding and a new resolve to do their part to facilitate the reconciliation in any way they could. Many clustered around her after the service, asking questions and engaging in conversations about racism. Many St. Andrew’s members also made plans to attend the four-day event. “We are looking forward to continuing a dialogue with the Aboriginal community in the future,” said WilfongPritchard. “As Cecile said, there is still much more work to do.”
CALGARY
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Third generation residential school survivor discusses her experiences in book
PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
Gladstone inducted as honourary witness for TRC Jim Gladstone (centre) with Truth and Reconciliation Commission members Dr. Marie Wilson and Chief Wilton Littlechild was inducted as an honourary witness at the seventh and final national event in Edmonton. Gladstone, from the Blood reserve, is world champion in calf roping and a lawyer, with expertise in the oil and gas sector.
Conference helps youth with self-confidence
PHOTO: TALONBOOKS
Bev Sellars, author of They Called Me Number One, will be reading from and discussing her book on May 3 at the 10th Anniversary conference of the Creative Nonfiction Collective at Calgary’s Palliser Hotel.
By Darlene Chrapko Sweetgrass Writer CALGARY
When her tribal council at Soda Creek started looking at the social dysfunction and chaos in its Northern British Columbia community in the 1990s, there was no escaping its source. “All roads led back to the residential schools,” said Bev Sellars. Being deloused with DDT, eating food unfit for human consumption and enduring the strapping that was the method of discipline at St. Joseph’s Mission at Williams Lake are just a few of the inhumane experiences Sellars writes about in her book, They Called Me Number One. Her experiences in the residential school were also those of her mother and grandmother, although like so many others they never talked about it. Not only was she forced to live away from her family for 10 months of the year, but her name was also taken from her. Residents of the school were identified as numbers. Parents
who did not allow their children to attend the school faced going to jail. When the school was finally closed during Sellars term as chief at Soda Creek, it was demolished by members of the community as though by obliterating it, they could erase the horrific abuse they endured. “I was shocked at how much damage they were able to do in less than 24 hours with no tools or machinery,” writes Sellars. Sellars said when she started connecting the dots from childhood to adulthood, she started writing notes about her experience for her kids, her nieces and nephews. She said, “I was afraid that we will all die and nobody will know what happened.” For the Aboriginal people who went to the residential schools, so many people say, “That’s my story,” said Sellars. After a reading once, an audience member came up to Sellars and said, “I refused to deal with my time at the school. After reading the book, I’m going to counselling.” She said it is the best compliment she
ever received. Sellars encourages people to tell their stories although many cannot. Her work has not always been welcomed. Sellars received hate mail in the early ‘90s when she began to speak out about the residential schools. “The non-Native audiences responded negatively,” she said. That has changed. Other nonAboriginals began pointing their fingers at the church, saying, “This is what happened to me.” Lately phone calls and letters from people everywhere have been positive. “I have lots of non-Native friends, all colours, who understand where we’ve been,” she said. “People everywhere have to be treated with dignity and respect.” In her book, Sellars describes the way her people have been treated as “welfare,” repeating what many Elders have said, “We are beggars in our own land.” “Even the money we get now, there are strings attached,” she said. “For true reconciliation we want total control of our lives and our people and our resources,” Sellars said.
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Gemini award-winning actress Michelle Thrush of Blackstone, and Big Brother Canada star Suzette Amaya were two of the role models at Buffalo Symposium, a two-day conference for Aboriginal youth held in Calgary March 28 and 29. The conference, co-hosted by the Calgary Aboriginal Friendship Centre and Métis Family Services, was aimed at helping the youth participants achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Controversial alcohol therapy program underway Officials in Calgary aiming to end Aboriginal homelessness are working on a controversial program that would give chronic alcoholics measured doses of alcohol to help them move towards a healthier lifestyle. The officials are reviewing the results of similar programs in other areas of Canada that have led to fewer arrests and hospital stays. In the Calgary proposal, homeless Aboriginals chronically addicted to alcohol, including products such as mouthwash and hand sanitizer, would be administered measured doses of alcohol while under supervision. Although it is unlikely the clients would overcome their addiction, proponents believe they would move towards attaining healthier lifestyles. Results of managed alcohol programs such as these show residents cutting back on alcohol consumption by 35 to 50 per cent in a two-year period. The officials who work independently from the Calgary Homeless Foundation hope to have a proposal ready by the end of the year. Programs such as these are offered in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton and British Columbia. Discussions to implement a similar program at the Calgary Drop-In Centre are underway. Although controversial, the programs not only control alcohol consumption, but also offer money management and nutritional advice.
Western Canada High to drop “Redmen” Team Name Following consultation with Treaty 7 Aboriginal Elders, the Calgary Board of Education has decided to change the name and logo of Western Canada High School’s sports teams, the Redmen. The board believes the name is offensive to Aboriginals. While there is strong support by some to change the name, including parents, students and staff of the school, there is also support to keep the name by numerous alumni of Western. Brett Farrell, a 2012 graduate, initiated a Facebook page advocating that the name be kept. The team logo portrays an Aboriginal man with long black hair and feathers. Those in favour of keeping the team name and logo argue that it is not intended to be disrespectful and embodies a school tradition.
Aboriginal youth screen animated films On March 30, a group of Aboriginal youth, aged 18-24, screened their animated films at the Globe Cinema. Over the course of 18 weeks, the youth participated in the Aboriginal Youth Animation Project learning life skills, professional development and animation techniques. In the three weeks leading up to the screening, the youth worked intensely to complete their films for screening night. The group worked with a number of organizations, including the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth, the City of Calgary Youth Employment Centre, and the University of Calgary to learn skills in seminars and hear guest speakers share their knowledge. Overall, the Aboriginal Youth Animation Program introduces youth to workforce expectations while inspiring them to achieve their artistic dreams.
Compiled by Darlene Chrapko
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ALL PHOTOS: SHARI NARINE
Artist Leah Decter and curator Jaimie Isaac have crossed the country with their interactive project which invites people to sew their response into the quilt to Stephen Harper’s comment at the G20 Summit in 2009, “We also have no history of colonialism.”
David Langtry (second from left) offers the blankets of his twin grandchildren for the Bentwood Box noting that it is his hope that the generation of his grandchildren is the generation that “realizes true reconciliation and equality with Aboriginal peoples.”
Cupcakes were given to all and birthday cards to the survivors as birthdays that were never celebrated at residential schools were celebrated on the last day of the Edmonton national event.
Brenda Reynolds (right), representative from the Edmonton planning committee, transfers the basket containing the ashes from the sacred fire, which includes the tissues that dried tears cried, to Gordon Williams, the Ontario representative on the Survivors Committee.
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What they said at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Seventh National Event Edmonton March 27-30, 2014
Lynda Minoose, during Commissioners Sharing Panel ____________________________
“It starts with forgiveness within our own families. Forgiveness to not hold on to pain and suffering. But most importantly to not pass this on any longer. Forgiveness is not forgetting…. Rather it is something internal and it’s a sign of strength. It can free us and empower us to move forward.”
“We need to be practitioners of reconciliation. Right where we are. Right where we sit. From the places of healing which we find ourselves in.”
Hereditary Chief of the Kwagiulth Nation Robert Joseph, during the Honourary Witness Talking Circle ____________________________
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo, during opening address ____________________________ “We regret that at times the Christian faith was used wrongly as an instrument of power not as an invitation to see how God was already at work before we came.”
Speakers and participants at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Seventh National Event (from left): Assembly of First Nations Alberta Regional Chief Cameron Alexis and National Chief Shawn Atleo; Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson; Inuit Elder Minnie Freedman; and Alberta Aboriginal Relations Minister Frank Oberle.
Tim Dyck, Mennonite Churches of Canada, reading from statement presented during Expressions of Reconciliation ____________________________
Yellow Quill First Nation Chief Larry Cachene, during Expressions of Reconciliation ____________________________
“I just want to say I’m sorry for all the white people I called down throughout the years of my life, through hatred. I’m very sorry but I don’t know any one of you. But we can help each other to understand why we hate each other.”
PHOTO: SHARI NARINE
Gordon Potts, during A Town Hall on Reconciliation ____________________________ “The darkside of my experience I will always keep that as a reminder that I need to do something today to try and make a difference in the future.”
Mikisew Cree Nation Chief Steve Courtoreille, guest during Honourary Witness Statement ____________________________
“Reconciliation means changing my attitude and my self-image but also non- Native people to change their attitude and their self-image.”
ability to start to heal and grow.”
“I have not come across one survivor … who wants pity, all we want is understanding and learning for the future generations and quit hiding this dark history that this era carries.”
Eugene Arcand, Survivor Committee statement ____________________________ “Whereas reconciliation… will not right the wrongs of the past, it will help us start a new journey together…”
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Dan Highway, Children of “That is what I will give reading from the City of Survivors Digital Storytelling testimony to. That I have not Calgary Proclamation of a Project, during Expressions of died. That I am not a statistic.” Year of Reconciliation Reconciliation ____________________________
“We need to create an understanding and from that understanding we create that
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Janvier has turned hell into art By Paula E. Kirman Sweetgrass Writer EDMONTON
Alex Janvier is best known as a successful visual artist. When he speaks in public, art is usually the topic of the talk. However, on March 27, Janvier spoke not as an artist, but as a survivor of the residential school system to a panel of church leaders at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final national event in Edmonton. The Churches Listening Circle offered survivors the opportunity to share their stories with representatives who signed the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The four church representatives present at the sharing circle were Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie OMI (Catholic), Reverend Gary Patterson (Moderator of the United Church of Canada), Les Young (Presbyterian), and Maude Parsons-Horst (Anglican). Members of the public, including other clergy, filled the room to capacity as Janvier spoke, sitting around the circle with other survivors. “I think I’ll just ask for the country back. I teach my grandchildren and children to believe that they are the landlords,” says Janvier, who is from the Cold Lake First Nation and the father of six children. Janvier discussed the abuse he suffered in residential school from a spiritual perspective. “We’re all going to go to hell you know - we’re Indians. Pretty scary stuff. When you’re a little kid you don’t know where hell was, but it sure the heck was not a good place to go from what I hear. That’s the training that we got and we became full of fear. Lots of fear. So we’re supposed to be going to school to learn things, but when you’re living in fear you don’t learn much.” However, Janvier now has his own definition of hell because
of residential school. “If you want to understand hell, just be an Indian, go to residential school, and you will live in hell for a number of years later. It is a complete wipe of what you are, what you contain, what you came to to this Earth for.” This fear of hell extended into relationships with his family. “The rest of the program was denial of my language, culture, beliefs even belief in the Great Spirit. They said our grandparents were evil and from the devil. That’s my grandmother and grandfather and I never had known them to say any words that were evil, and yet in that place we were made to believe that was what was going on back home.” He also talked about physical abuse. “These teachers had these sticks that were about a yard long made of hickory so it doesn’t break off too easily. Our little hands burned when those sticks landed. That’s the history of residential schools and I am sure that all of us here in this room today we can go back and remember grandparents and parents and even children who have been there,” he said, acknowledging the intergenerational damage that residential schools have caused. “We pass that on to our families. Even though they did not go to residential school, we pass it on to our children. This is a deadly existence.” Like many artists, Janvier turned his pain into art. “I’m a famous artist today because of that school. I began to express the deep, hidden things inside that I could only express through art.” Spiritually, Janvier has returned to traditional Native ways, in which he has found solace. “Finally, I found a way. I found a spiritual way, the Native spiritual way I began to follow and it has brought me back. It is amazing when you are coming back to what you really are.”
PHOTO: PAULA E. KIRMAN
Artist Alex Janvier told his story as part of the Churches Listening Circle.
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Emotional reality of residential school hits in adulthood By Paula E. Kirman Sweetgrass Writer EDMONTON
Sometimes emotional trauma emerges years after the fact. This was the case for Margaret Larocque. The Cree woman was in four different residential schools over the course of nine years. Like many residential school survivors, she was taken from her community at a young age. “I remember being so traumatized when I first had to leave because I did not know the English language or anything about the schools,” she said. “My first year was probably the toughest year. In my first year I got every sickness imaginable. To this day I still have some problems in my balance due to some ear infections I had that were not taken care of properly.” Larocque had to develop her own set of survival skills to get through life in the boarding schools. “In order to survive emotionally I had to build all these walls around me. I had to adjust to living with a whole bunch of people with strange customs. I had to adjust to eating food that was very
PHOTO: PAULA E. KIRMAN
Margaret Larocque told her story in one of the numerous smaller sharing circles that was held throughout the four-day event.
different than food I ate, the processed food. For me, that established lifelong bad eating habits.” Relating to people became difficult. “As I got older it took me a long time to break down those walls and barriers I had put there to protect myself. It wasn’t until I was an early adult that I started recognizing what happened. The Roman Catholic Church was used as a tool of the
colonizer to turn us into white people. I was a tool of the colonizer.” In addition to struggling with her own emotional health and cultural identity as a result of residential schools, Larocque had to deal with the long term effects of sexual abuse by a priest during Catechism classes. “I carried that shame for years because I thought I was bad. It took me a long time to even start talking about my
experience with the priest and how that affected my relationships. I hated older white men because of that.” Larocque did have some positive experiences at residential school. “When I was in some of the schools I got to meet a lot of people and to this day I know a lot of people from a lot of places. A lot of really good soccer and hockey players came from there. I left boarding
school in Grade 8 and went to a white school and people recognized that I had really good sports skills. I was always the first to be picked for a team, which was a good feeling.” However, as she got older Larocque began to experience emotional setbacks. She was angry at her mother who was not able to be there emotionally for her. She also watched some of her former schoolmates became alcoholics or ended up on the streets. One disappeared on Vancouver’s east side. Larocque is an example of resilience. She went to university and earned a degree in social work. Today, she continues to visit her home community and observes the effects of the residential schools on the people there, particularly in terms of lateral violence by people “in leadership positions after being through all of these traumatic experiences. I have seen the use of power and energies against people.” Still, going home is a positive experience for Larocque. “I am happy when I got home and people are happy to see me. My spirit feels good to be back home because it really is my history.”