Today is a day when I pause to think about what is means to be Canadian, what we have done, where we are going and what we left behind.
September 30th is the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, also known as “Orange Shirt Day”, when we reflect on the damage done and the legacy of the Residential School System in Canada, with ceremonies in Belleville and many other communities.
The numbers are staggering, telling a grim tale of death, subordination and attempted sterilization of indigenous culture itself.
Approximately 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally, with 3,200 deaths over the course of a century, but those are only the ones recorded with the true number unknown and estimated at 6,000 or more.
This isn’t ancient history. The last school, located in Rankin Inlet, only closed in 1996.
In addition to the staggering number of deaths, many hidden from the public eye, the schools themselves were an instrument of control and coercion. Kids were taken from their parents against their will. Parents could not leave a reserve to get their children without a pass from an Indian agent.
At the schools, it was a nightmare. Many students were malnourished. Students were beaten for speaking their Indigenous languages. Medical care was often denied. Countless were buried in unmarked graves, their parents not even being notified.
Today we MUST acknowledge what we did and what we allowed to happen. It’s not about blame, or reparations or even grief. It’s about the truth…a truth which lies buried still in far too many places without a trial to bring justice or even a name for a proper memorial.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
(PAUL MARTIN)
