Wednesday’s apology by the Prime Minister of Canada to former students of Indian Residential Schools had a Squamish Nation chief “hopeful” that it would help survivors move on from a difficult era in Canadian history.
Chief Gibby Jacob of the Squamish Nation told Pique Newsmagazine on June 6 that he hoped the apology is a meaningful gesture to an estimated 100,000 former students who attended the schools.
“It's been a long time coming, and hopefully it means something
to all of those who've been traumatized spiritually, physically, emotionally
and mentally,” he said. “My hope is that the collective First Nations people
see this as an opportunity to close a door and quit being imprisoned and
victimized by the residential school trauma.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the apology in the House of
Commons on June 11 at about noon PST. The prime minister rose in the House and
recounted some of the history of residential schools before issuing a formal
apology. Opposition party leaders then had a chance to respond to the apology
in the House.
Following the apology, Members of Parliament proceeded outside
the House where they took part in a series of ceremonial exchanges.
Jacob hoped that those who suffered in residential school were
able to derive some personal healing from the apology, though he fears that for
some, it may not bring much closure.
“What happens if this means nothing?” he said. “My fear is this
will turn out to be something that is not viewed as positive or will bring
ultimate closure.
“So what we’re going to be doing is going back to what has
always been our strength and what has kept us alive as a people throughout this
time, (and that) is our culture.”
Chief Leonard Andrew of the Lil’Wat Nation said receipt of the
apology by his people would be affected largely by the way it was delivered.
“It all really depends on how he apologizes to the people
because it’s been a long, long process,” he said prior to the apology. Andrew
added that he’s not sure a sufficient apology can be delivered to residential
school survivors.
“Within my community, probably 90 per cent of my people went to
residential school, but 100 per cent of the people were affected because the
others that didn't go were obviously affected by the fact that their next of
kin were pulled away from home,” Andrew said.
“Whether it's fully accepted, I guess only time will tell.”
The weeks leading up to the apology have not come without
criticism of the government from some groups.
Ted Quewezance, executive director of the National Residential
School Survivors’ Society, issued an open letter to the prime minister on June
3 outlining seven requests that the PM take into account when making the
apology. They included confessing that survivors were “kidnapped” from their
families and “imprisoned” in schools that had had little or no respect for
human dignity.
Quewezance also wrote that an apology letter sent to each
survivor would be appropriate for what was done in residential schools. He
concluded the letter saying, “Anything less than the above is not in our view a
sincere apology and will not be accepted by most of the survivors, their
families and their communities.”
Chuck Strahl, minister of Indian Affairs and Member of
Parliament for Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, said on a conference call that the
apology would be a sincere gesture, but did not specifically address
Quewezance’s letter, as he hadn’t seen it.
“I haven't seen the list you’re talking about, but I think I've
seen it in other forms, and I think we've got all the elements in there,” he
told reporters on the call. “Sometimes there are requests that you just can't
do. For instance, one group wrote me and said they expected my children to be
in the audience to hear this, for example.
“I can't say that I can be sure to get my kids there because
they felt it was important for sincerity reasons that my children be there to
listen to it.”
Strahl also faced questions about the apology’s similarity with
one recently issued in Australia.
That apology, delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, focused
on so-called “Stolen Generations,” aboriginal children who, between 1910 and
1970, were taken from their parents and placed in the care of church missions
and white foster families in an effort to assimilate them into Australian
society.
“Our apology is going to be more extensive,” Strahl said. “It's
longer than the Australian one because it's more specific to the residential
school era. The Australian one was good too, of course, but ours, it has to be
a little bit different and I think, in my opinion, better addresses our
Canadian experience.”
A viewing of the apology was staged on large screens at the First Nations Summit on June 11 at the Chief Joe Mathias Centre in North Vancouver.
