CANADA
The StarPhoenix
By Jeremy Warren, The StarPhoenix
June 25, 2012
There are survivors of residential schools and then there are their descendants, who often survived their own abuse and social problems that are the system’s legacy, said several people testifying at the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission event in Saskatoon.
Former residential school students gave public testimonies about their experiences alongside younger generations of aboriginal people who told their own stories of surviving dysfunctional families and social struggles. The “inter-generational effects,” as people called them, have done as much harm as residential schools, the commission heard during the four-day event.
Marcia Mirasty testified at Saturday’s commissioners’ sharing panel with her mother, a residential school survivor. The Flying Dust First Nation health director talked about family violence and neglect, sexual and substance abuse and other health problems that survivors and their families have faced.
“We have a generation of parents who don’t know how to parent,” Mirasty said after her testimony. “A lot of parenting skills were broken.”
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