Commission hearings set for Garden Hill next week

THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be in Garden Hill next week to hear from community members affected by the Indian residential school system.

Commissioner and Chief Wilton Littlechild will conduct a two-day hearing at the remote northern community on Feb. 19 and 20 for anyone who would like to learn about and witness the schools' legacy, a commission news release said.

The hearing at Garden Hill First Nation High School is free to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. Those who want to make a private statement to the commission will be able to do so. Health support workers will be on hand, the release said. Program details will be available at the www.trc.ca website, which will stream the hearing live.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has a mandate to inform all Canadians about what happened in the 150-year history of the residential school system and to guide and inspire a process of reconciliation, officials said.

Ancient biosphere studied

BRANDON University biology professor David Greenwood says parts of Canada that were tropical 50 million years ago were more diverse than thought.

Greenwood studied fossil beds from British Columbia and Washington state with team members Prof. Bruce Archibald and Prof. Rolf Mathewes, who are Simon Fraser University evolutionary biologists.

"Tropical mountains are highly diverse because migration between mountains is more difficult than in temperate areas," Greenwood said in a statement.

The research team was seeking to confirm an influential ecological theory explaining the diversity of life in the modern world.

-- staff

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 16, 2013 A12