Truth Can Bring Healing

By Alberni Valley
Times Colonist
March 15, 2012

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/Truth+bring+healing/6305857/story.html

Sometimes the truth hurts. But often it heals. On Monday and Tuesday, a lot of tears were shed as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard from survivors of the Alberni Residential School.

The stories were both unbelievable and shocking, making the whole experience one that was difficult to witness.

But that is exactly why it is essential that these stories be told. It is only by talking about it that the victims can heal and move on. They will never forget. No one ever could. But the hearing offered hope that nothing like this will ever happen in Canada again.

The Alberni Residential School was in operation from 1929 to 1973. It was known to be one of the worst in Canada. The atrocities that took place there have marked families for generations. In some cases, children were believed to be raped and murdered, and the stories told at Maht Mahs Gym on Monday and Tuesday revealed there was a lot of truth to these frightening stories.

After the tears were wiped away and the last story was told, a feeling of hope remained at Maht Mahs Gym. With the scars of the old residential school still visible, there was a belief that healing was possible. For that reason alone, the hearing was a success.