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	Tell the Truth Daily Gleaner September 7, 2011 http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/1437770 Forced assimilation was the official government policy. From the mid 1800s until the late 1900s, the method of choice for achieving the forced assimilation of aboriginal children was through placement in one of 130 residential schools. Once a child had documentation - government or church papers that identified that child as aboriginal - he or she was a potential residential school student. Every year, advertisements would appear in local newspapers and on radio, and the Indian agent would show up in the community, sometimes with the police, on "round-up day." Some children went quietly, some went kicking and screaming, some hid and some parents refused to let their children go. Parents were sometimes prosecuted for their resistance. What happened at these residential schools - run by the federal government, the Catholic Church, the Anglicans, Presbyterians and the United Church - was sometimes barbaric. Children were abused and some died, all in an effort to "kill the Indian in the child." In an effort to collect and record the experiences, the courts - not the government - ordered a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. That commission is in Fredericton this week. On Thursday at Government House, the commissioners will listen to the stories of residential school survivors and perhaps their descendents, as part of the fact-gathering process. The commission has nine stops in Atlantic Canada. One might assume the residential school issue is a Western Canada problem, but we're not immune. The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia operated from 1929 to 1967 and saw children from all three Maritime provinces attend. This one was run by the Catholic Church. The commission, up to one year ago, had processed 128 New Brunswick survivor applications for compensation. How many who attended Shubenacadie and were also abused there is unknown. How many will show up on Thursday is also unknown, but we hope all who have a story to tell will consider telling it to the commission. One of the commissioners, Judge Murray Sinclair, met with The Daily Gleaner editorial board Tuesday to talk about the commission and its mandate. An aboriginal judge from Manitoba, he went to public school, but his grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins attended residential school. His grandmother was fortunate. She loved residential school because she loved the nuns who ran it. Treatment often depended on the relationships that were forged, and many former students claim residential school probably saved their lives. If only all the students could tell that story. There is a long legacy of the schools in Canada. At least 10 generations came through this system of forced assimilation. Since the three commissioners began their work in 2009, they have travelled to about 550 communities, and listened to about 7,000 people tell their stories. It's an arduous process, but one that must be done to deal with this sad and brutal era of our history. If you have been affected by residential schools, even if you weren't a student of one, you're invited to attend. And if you had nothing to do with residential schools but wish to bear witness to this process, you too are invited to Government House on Thursday. Our hope is for truth and reconciliation.
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