July 7, 2021
I began to plan this week’s
Wednesday’s Words the day after I’d penned and posted last week’s essay. You
see, the day after June 30th was July 1st. Canada Day. Thinking
of the day, and it’s meaning, my heart and mind were on the gruesome
discoveries that had rocked our nation over the past month.
Adding to my sense of tragedy
was the announcement on June 30th of the latest discovery of 182 unmarked
graves found near Cranbrook, British Columbia; this number is added to the 215
found near Kamloops (also in British Columbia) and 751 that were found in
Saskatchewan. All of these graves are located at or near the sites of former
Residential schools.
What was the residential
school system in Canada? First established in the 1860s, it was a horrible
creation born out the same kind of arrogance that gave birth to the mission
mindset of the 1600s. Believing their religion meant that their society, mores,
and every other aspect of being to be superior to the lifestyle of
Indigenous peoples, the government of Canada, beginning in the 1860s (Canada
was created in 1867) decided to commission “schools” for Indigenous children. These
schools were run by the churches. In the early years of this institution, children
were forcefully taken from their families, and their communities and then placed
into these schools where, quite bluntly the goal was to “erase their own race
and make them white”. They would be beaten and abused for speaking their native
languages, or attempting to live according to their own cultural traditions.
Survivors of this system have
testified of horrendous abuse in every form—physical, emotional, psychological
and sexual.
When I first heard of the
existence this abhorrent system, it was in high school, and while there was no mention
at that time in Canadian teaching about the “abuse” that in hindsight seems to
be the true purpose of this system, abuse doled out by the people running these
facilities, the entire concept in my teenage mind had been abusive and
abhorrent. Even without knowing about the beatings and the rapes, to me,
forcibly taking children from their families was an unthinkable evil.
How dare they believe they had
the right to steal those children? How dare they have the right to steal mothers
and fathers from those children?
I believe there’s a natural
law in the universe that few people in those days knew existed—and judging from
what I’ve witnessed in my life, even fewer do, today. I’ll express it like
this: if you have to harm another to prove you’re superior, all you’re really proving
is that in fact, you are not.
The Ktunaxa Nation within
Canada is made up of four bands of Indigenous peoples, and it was one of these
bands that made the latest discovery on June 30th of 182 unmarked
graves. As one can understand, after news of this discovery became known, a
furor erupted, and most people, me included, immediately assumed the worst. I
assumed that here was yet another example of the egregious treatment handed out
on behalf of our government, in our names, by those running the residential
school system.
The band itself issued a news
release cautioning this rush to judgement. Before the St. Eugene residential
school came into being (1912-1970) there had been a hospital adjacent to the
established cemetery, where these graves were discovered. In their release, the
band asked for patience while an extensive investigation is conducted. Their
release included this, which I have copied and pasted from their release:
Graves were traditionally marked with
wooden crosses and this practice continues to this day in many Indigenous
communities across Canada. Wooden crosses can deteriorate over time due to erosion
or fire which can result in an unmarked grave.
You can read the entire news
release here: https://www.aqam.net/sites/default/files/20210630%20-%20aqam%20media%20Release%20-%20Statement%20on%20discovery%20of%20unmarked%20graves.pdf
I repent the existence of the Residential
School system, as it was deployed, and mourn the damage done to the Indigenous
nations and also the loss of any and all lives because of it. I am grateful for
the stance taken by the ʔaq ̓ am band, and I agree
completely with the sentiment of their news release.
It's easy and popular in this day and age
to rush to judgement. I’ve seen that in the last five years far more than I
ever believed I would. And I know that that action might serve to fill some
with a sense of moral superiority which can be a very intoxicating emotion. But
isn’t that the root of the situation to begin with? Wasn’t it a sense of superiority,
of misguided belief in a sort of divine right, that caused self-righteous men
to conceive of such a thing as the residential school system in the first place?
We need to know all the facts before we can
truly know what happened and how those graves came to be. I pray that the
coming weeks and months will bring knowledge, understanding, and with those two
treasures, a desire for and implementation of healing change.
Love,
Morgan
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