The Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds its first national hearing today in Winnipeg. The Commission plans seven national meetings to collect the stories from those affected and involved in Residential Schools.

 

When the Chairperson of the Commission, Justice Murray Sinclair spoke to the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Calgary in 2009 he said, “We (Chairperson Justice Murray Sinclair, Commissioners Chief Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson) are committed to each other and to the cause of the Commission and we will see this through to the end. I promise you that we will seek out the stories of all those connected to the schools who are still alive, from the students and the teachers, to the managers and the janitors, as well as the officials who planned and carried out the whole thing.

If you have a story to tell about the schools, we will hear it. If you cannot come to us, we will come to you. If you cannot speak, we will find someone to speak for you.

We will go to as many communities as we humanly can manage and where we can't go ourselves we will send our delegates armed with our authority to record the stories of those who wish to tell them.

And in the end we will ensure that the whole world hears their truths and the truth about residential schools, so that future generations of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians will be able to hold to the statement that resonates with all of us: This must never happen again."

 

Last night on The National Peter Mansbridge spoke with Justice Sinclair. Mansbridge asked him what had surprised him so far. He responded by saying he has been shocked to learn how many children just disappeared. About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend the government and church-run schools in the 1900’s. Many, many children never came home and families never learned what happened to them.

 

I was in attendance at the General Council Meeting in Sudbury in 1986 when the UCC apologized to the First Nations for our stripping of their culture and imposing western ways thereby confusing culture with the gospel. We apologized again in 1998 for our role in the Residential School system; The United Church ran several of the Residential Schools.

 

I am glad our nation is embarking on this process. We need to expose the suffering caused by the schools, ask for forgiveness and begin to begin the hard work of repairing the damage done. What do you think?

 

You can find out more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by checking out their web site at www.trc.ca