How to support residential school survivors.

Learn, take action to support residential school survivors, victims

SYDNEY — With flags flying at half-mast, tiny shoes being placed on church steps and sacred fires being lit across the country, Canadians continue to grapple with the discovery of the remains of more than 200 children at a former residential school in British Columbia.

Two weeks ago, Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation Chief Rosanne Casimir announced 215 bodies had been discovered on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, leading to mounting calls for action from Indigenous leaders and communities, including calls for similar searches at the more than 130 sites of former residential schools across the country that operated between 1874 and 1996.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged “concrete action” on Monday but hasn’t provided many details. He was absent from a vote on an opposition motion this week introduced by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh calling on the government to stop fighting survivors and Indigenous children in court, and for faster implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. Other Liberal ministers and backbenchers, including Minister of Indigenous and Crown Relations Carolyn Bennett and Minister of Indigenous Services Canada Marc Miller abstained from the vote. The motion passed 271-0.

Last week, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation was unanimously voted into law in both the House of Commons and the Senate, making the first national statutory holiday on Sept. 30. The government also announced it would distribute $27 million in previously announced funds to First Nations communities to uncover and properly memorialize other victims of residential schools.

Last weekend, exploratory work began on the former Shubenacadie Residential School site to search for possible graves there.

Jeff Ward, the son of a residential school survivor and manager of the Membertou Heritage Park, said it’s important for people to realize that the tragedy discovered in British Columbia is not an isolated occurrence, and is not something that only happened on the other side of the country.

“This existed here, and we don’t even talk about the stories. When survivors start telling stories about how they couldn’t even see their own family, their brothers and sisters, yet they were at the same residential school, I could only compare it to a prison, they were so isolated,” Ward said. “We knew this happened, that people were in unmarked graves. Finally, somebody got a hold of that machine, and now we found the proof.”

More bodies and more hard truths are likely to be uncovered, and Ward said there is likely to be a lot of guilt and remorse, and also denial as these stories are told. For those who are willing to listen, to learn and to take positive action, here are some suggestions, compiled from information provided by the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs, Stephen Augustine of the Unama’ki College at Cape Breton University, and Jeff Ward from the Membertou Heritage Park:

1. Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report and 94 Calls to Action at http://www.trc.ca/ about-us/trc-findings.html. Contact your local MP and demand the 94 calls to action are adhered to, especially calls 71-76 requesting the federal government to accurately detail the number of children who were killed in these facilities, establish a National Residential School Student Death Register, and locate the bodies of the children at every site. Think about how you can implement the calls to action in your own life.

2. Donate to organizations that provide counselling and support services for survivors and families impacted by the legacy of trauma inflicted by the residential school system, as well as organizations that educate about residential schools such as the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, the Legacy of Hope Foundation, and the Orange Shirt Society.

3. Visit Indigenous cultural heritage sites to learn about the traditions, culture, language and resilience of the communities upon whose land you live, including the Membertou Heritage Park, Goat Island in Eskasoni, and the Millbrook Cultural and Heritage Centre. Consider taking a Mi’kmaq Studies course at Cape Breton University or register for UBC’S open online course in Indigenous Studies and Reconciliation or the University of Alberta’s online Indigenous Canada 12-week course for free.

4. Learn about what it means to be treaty people and about the relationship between settlers and Indigenous people in Mi’kma’ki. Treaty Education Nova Scotia has resources online and the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Speakers’ Bureau has trained presenters available to speak to school, workplaces or events on a variety of themes, including Mi’kmaq history and culture, Treaties and the treaty relationship, and reconciliation. Book a presenter on the website — https://novascotia. ca/treaty-education/ — or advocate for the training in your workplace, organization or school.

5. Contact your local MLA to call on the provincial government to designate the new statutory holiday, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, as a general holiday under the Labour Act.