Windsor First Nations Supporters Join Call for Truth on Residential Schools

By Dalson Chen
Windsor Star
July 26, 2013

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/07/25/windsor-first-nations-supporters-join-call-for-truth-on-residential-schools/

Windsor First Nations supporters Michelle Nahdee helps 9-year-old Kiara Mitchell light a candle at the Honour the Apology vigil on Windsor's riverfront on July 25, 2013. (Dax Melmer / The Windsor Star)

If the Canadian government is truly sorry for the horrific Indian residential school system, it should reveal everything about that dark era, say local First Nations supporters.

On Thursday, a handful of people lit candles on Windsor’s riverfront as part of a country-wide rally to urge full disclosure of all documents concerning the schools that for decades forcibly assimilated the children of Canada’s aboriginal population.

Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 formally apologized on behalf of the nation for the Indian residential school system, critics say the government is dishonouring the apology by holding back important historical information from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Aboriginal children at the Red Deer Indian Industrial School in 1907. (Edmonton Journal)

“There’s been no meaningful action behind the apology,” said Lorena Shepley, a community organizer and ally of the CanAm Indian Friendship Centre of Windsor. “It’s just not enough.”

Earlier this month, Canada’s First Nations community was shocked by revelations that the residential school system used native students as unwitting test subjects for nutritional experiments — such as withholding rations and vitamins.

The revelations came from recently published historical research — not from any government investigation.

“(The documents) still haven’t all been turned over. They’re really dragging their feet,” Shepley said. “Part of it is they need to employ more people to do this job. They’re not making it a priority.”

“I think (the new research) is the tip of the iceberg….. They purposely kept children starved to do studies on them.”

The Red Deer Indian Industrial School in 1913. (Edmonton Journal)

The residential school system was legislated in the late 19th century. The last school of the system closed in 1996.

The system’s most infamous period was the early 20th century, when there were as many as 80 schools of their kind across Canada.

It’s been estimated that the mortality rate of the schools during that time was higher than 50 per cent, largely due to the spread of tuberculosis.

Earlier this year, the commission said at least 3,000 children died in the school system.

“Many children never returned home to their families again,” Shepley said Thursday. “This is a staggering fact. If this happened in any other culture, I think … it would be better addressed.”

A grave marker at the former site of the St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in Mission, B.C. Photographed June 2008. (Ian Smith / Vancouver Sun)

Shepley said Canada’s aboriginal people are still feeling the impact of the residential schools, and will continue to for generations.

“There are people living amongst us right now who were directly affected by the residential schools. Their parents and their grandparents attended those schools. Those kids were ripped out of their homes. A lot of them didn’t (learn) how to be parents.”

Post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction issues, and psychological problems due to physical and sexual abuse — that’s the legacy of the Indian residential school system on Canada’s First Nations, Shepley said.

“Our community suffers … We have an awful lot of problems.”