CTV
June 15, 2010
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20100616/truth-and-reconciliation-100616/
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| The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada said it's counting on people to share their stories of living in residential schools. |
Thousands of aboriginals are expected to appear in Winnipeg Wednesday to share their stories of living through Canada's disgraced residential system.
The hearing is the first in a series of national events being run by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
"We want them to tell us about their life. Tell us what life was like before you went to the school if you can remember. What was life like at the school in its entirety," Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the commission, said prior to the event.
About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend the government and church-sponsored residential school programs.
Most children were forbidden from speaking their native languages and many were physically and sexually abused.
Chief Robert Joseph, a residential school survivor, told CTV Winnipeg he hopes the event starts the healing process.
"Us survivors are going to benefit by being able to tell our stories and release the anger and the resentment," said Joseph.
Manitoba's deputy premier, Eric Robinson, has said he never got to know his mother and was sexually abused in the residential system.The Winnipeg event is the first of seven national commission events to be held over the next five years.
The official program starts Wednesday with the lighting of a sacred fire and a pipe ceremony.
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