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	Truth, Reconciliation Cannot Include Blame Daily News May 14, 2008 http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/opinion/story.html?id=9880a950-d247-48c8-8b70-6ee94185ce06 A truth and reconciliation commission to examine the history and impact of residential schools needs to be much more than either an effort to make its participants feel good or to lay on yet more blame. The idea is modeled on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission presided over by the famous Bishop Desmond Tutu. In South Africa the commission was necessary as a way to seek restoration for what was lost in the destruction of Apartheid. It's an apt comparison, since Canada's residential school system was created in the 19th century out of the idea that the European culture was superior and native cultures inferior. There are significant differences between the South African model and the one proposed to begin in June in Canada. Apartheid was a brutal and violent regime, with the state of South Africa committing terrorist acts against those mobilized to oppose such a hideous injustice. And the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission covered a period of time that allowed most of the major players to testify. The residential school era covers a much longer time. The men who conceived the idea are long dead, and even many of those who ran the schools are no longer around. While children were terrorized and brutalized by individuals, it would be wrong to claim this was in any way state-sponsored. What happened was that the state was responsible for creating a system that allowed those children to be terrorized and abused. There is culpability on the part of the state, but is it is very different from having death squads, targeting people for assassination and throwing people in jail without the benefit of habeas corpus. In Canada it might be called a sin of omission -- failing to look out for people that the government had an obligation to protect -- than a sin of commission, using violence to subjugate an entire people. It is important that such distinctions are made and understood, but the residential school truth and reconciliation commission should not get bogged down in details of culpability. In fact, that's exactly what the process needs to avoid -- blame. It's a truth that until we acknowledge our past, we will continue to relive it. While survivors of residential school abuse participate in their healing, also necessary is that healing happen at the community level. And that does not mean just aboriginal communities. Though First Nations are the most scarred by the experience -- substance abuse, sexual abuse and family dysfunction are made worse by the residential school legacy -- non-native Canadians are victimized by not being aware of such truths. Many Canadians have taken up racist stereotypes from behaviours fostered in native communities by the residential school legacy. And racism harms the perpetrator as much as the victim. By acknowledging, without blame, what happened, both sides can then begin to take responsibility for their parts. It's not about moving past or eliminating this unpleasant history, but accepting it for what it was. If the commission works as it should, the end result ought to be First Nations realizing their part is to find healthier ways to cope with the reality of the residential school legacy. For non-native communities, the result ought to be healthier ways of relating with aboriginal peoples. Perhaps that will go some way to ending the current way aboriginal people are marginalized through subtle or overt racism. And it also needs to be recognized that this commission will be just the start of what is a very long process. It may take generations before the healing for both communities can be seen and felt. We can only hope this commission will find a way to restore dignity and strength to all Canadians touched by residential schools.
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