Today is a day when I pause to think about what is means to be Canadian, and the importance of truth when it comes to our shared past.
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 Tyendinaga, Belleville and many other communities.
The numbers are staggering.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were placed in residential schools nationally, with 3,200 official deaths and the true number unknown, estimated at 6,000 or more.
This isn’t ancient history. The last school, located in Rankin Inlet, only closed in 1996, three years after I started on the air locally in radio.
Residential schools were the very definition of a nightmare. Many students were malnourished and often beaten for speaking their Indigenous languages. Medical care was often denied. Countless were buried in unmarked graves, their parents not even being notified. Kids were taken from their parents against their will. Parents could not even leave a reserve to get their children without a pass from an Indian agent.
The words “attempted cultural genocide” are often used. It’s both shocking and completely appropriate.
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 a name for a proper memorial.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
