Residential Schools Crusader Dies at 77, Misses out on Compensation
By Sue Bailey
The Canadian Press [Ottawa]
June 2, 2006
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1
&c=Article&cid=1149198613896&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1112101662670
The federal government has mailed its first $8,000 cheques to compensate the oldest former students who suffered in native residential schools.
Gabe Mentuck won't get one.
The 77-year-old Winnipeg resident, one of the most vocal advocates for those who attended the now-defunct schools, died this week.
 |
|
Gabe Mentuck, left, with his wife Theresa, believed that the abuse within native residential schools must be remembered. Photo by The Canadian Press |
He was blind and had a failing heart. He was also furious at the federal officials he blamed for years of litigation and delay as scores of other former students died waiting for justice.
He had recently received an application for the $8,000 advance payment offered to those over age 65 while a broader compensation plan is reviewed by the courts.
If approved, the plan would give about 78,000 eligible survivors $10,000 plus $3,000 for each year spent in the once-mandatory network of schools.
The federal government admitted in 1998 that abuse in the church-run institutions, meant to educate and "Christianize" native kids, was rampant.
"If there hadn't been so much sexual and physical abuse, so many destroyed children and families as a result of Canada's residential schools, maybe a century of dirt could have been swept under this country's rug," Mentuck wrote in the last weeks of his life.
The article he hoped to have published, called Still an Indian, recalls the five years he spent at a Catholic-run school in Pine Creek, Man.
"Yes, I received quite an education there all right, being taught to feel guilty, inferior, and ashamed to be a 'heathen' and 'savage.'
"They beat me for speaking Ojibwa and practising my own culture, and crushed my spirituality with their religion. I endured five years of this kind of oppression and though the scars from the physical abuse have faded, the ones on my heart and mind are still fresh."
Mentuck accepted $40,000 last December from Ottawa as part of an out-of-court settlement. He bitterly referred to it as "another slap in the face."
He said he spent more time doing odd jobs around the school than studying, and left with less than a Grade 8 education. He worked as a labourer most of his life, raising eight children with his wife of 54 years, who died four years ago.
"He was a very loving father, very proud to be native," said Mentuck's daughter, Arlene Buchberger. "He fought very hard for his goal, for justice."
Critics have blasted the Harper government for taking months to adopt the compensation package first announced by the Liberals last November. It will be at least early next year before most former students see any money, if the optional payments are legally approved and accepted by enough survivors.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said this week that the new government carefully reviewed the deal after winning power in January.
"It was necessary for us to intercede and spearhead some changes," he told the Commons standing committee on aboriginal affairs yesterday.
That included ensuring that related legal fees are overseen by the courts, Prentice said.
Mentuck always suspected successive federal governments of needlessly dragging out the process as claimants died.
His estate along with those of anyone who died after May 30, 2005, can apply for compensation if the latest offer is upheld.
What Mentuck wanted as much as anything was for a brutal chapter in Canadian history to be read and remembered.
"Once all the witnesses are gone, maybe history can be re-written and this crime against native humanity can be given a couple of good coats of whitewash," he wrote. "But until then, I'm going to keep speaking out because my body may be broken but not my spirit.
"That's why, in spite of the government of Canada's best, and worst, efforts, I can proudly say that I am still an Indian."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.