Niinawind nindibaajimowininaan: our story

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2015 (3785 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On July 26, 2013, an employee of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights leaked information to the media that all reference to the word ‘genocide’ was removed from all exhibits related to Indian residential schools. As a result, indigenous activists took to the streets, and the CMHR evacuated the construction workers from the half-built museum.

As the first visible First Nations male to be employed at the CMHR, I want to share with you my perspective as it relates to Indian residential schools, the application of the word ‘genocide’ and an option for reconciliation between Canada and the indigenous peoples.

I was hired on a two-year contract to oversee the development of a complex national project, which became the National Spirit Panel project in the Indigenous Perspectives gallery, and to develop aboriginal programming. Within six months, CMHR initiated a partnership with the National Association of Friendship Centres, was ready to launch the National Spirit Panel project, and was poised to develop deep programming initiatives based upon the draft strategy for aboriginal public programming.

And, what happened to the draft strategy for aboriginal public programming?

The news story blew it up. It also destroyed 85 per cent of the relationships the CMHR had created with Winnipeg’s aboriginal community and branded the CMHR a genocide denier.

I wanted a solution to bring a sense of acknowledgment to the indigenous experience as it relates to Indian residential schools and the question of genocide. On my own time, I immersed myself on the subject of genocide, and my co-workers, during lunch breaks, provided me with direction to find the answers I was searching for.

I believe I have an answer as it relates to Indian residential school genocide and reconciliation.

Growing up, my generation did not experience residential schools the same way my parents did. I experienced the after-effects. My mother raised me on her own without my father present. I deliberately ignored discussion on Indian residential schools because it was painful to think about; it was shameful to think that sexual, emotional and physical abuse happened to my parents, and I was afraid to look into my family past.

The Indian residential school killed my father; it was a disease that grew inside him, and it ultimately overtook him. It set forth a lifetime of dysfunction and underachievement. He was abusive in his relationships with women, neglectful to the children he produced, and he was in conflict with the law.

In the end, he tried to reconcile and redeem himself, but he died before he could genuinely reach out to his estranged children. And, through his absence, I knew what love I needed to provide for my son.

I can only hope my son will not have to experience the effects of colonization in the same manner as me and my parents. I hope he will carry on the culture and traditions of the Anishinaabe people through its language. I am proud of my son; he is becoming fluent in the Anishinaabe language. He truly is the first generation to be taught in the traditional manner of indigenous people.

How do we, as a community, both indigenous and non-indigenous people, reconcile the Indian residential school experience?

I believe the answer is for the Parliament of Canada, and provincial legislative bodies, to recognize the Indian residential school experience in the same manner it has recognized the genocides perpetuated against the Ukrainians, Bosnians, Jews, Armenians and the Rwandans. I ask all Canadians to answer our call and support the recognition the Indian residential schools policy was an act of genocide under the UN Declaration on Genocide in which children were removed and transferred to another group, and chart a path together for reconciliation.

In March 2014, I wrote a declaration titled The Indian Residential School Genocide and Reconciliation Memorial Day Act. The documents used were the Statement of Apology the Government of Canada made to the residential school survivors, United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and five genocide resolutions passed by Parliament.

The purpose of The Indian Residential School Genocide and Reconciliation Memorial Day Act is to acknowledge the survivors of the Indian residential school experience, to have a national day of reflection and to promote the following goals: a) continue the healing for survivors of residential schools and their families; b) reaffirm the safety and protection of aboriginal children from all kinds of abuse; c) recognize aboriginal peoples and governments as self-governing and nation-to-nation in its relationship with Canada; and, d) to educate all Canadians about the lessons of the Indian residential school system.

After two years at the CMHR, what did I experience? I had to come to terms with Canada’s policy of colonization and assimilation and the genocide it has inflicted on my family.

The CMHR provided me knowledge about the five genocides recognized by Canada, and it provided me with the resources to assemble the act.

And it inspired me to share my story and my family’s experience with Indian residential schools.

I hope it makes you understand the work we have to do together — to create a stronger community, and a stronger country.

 

Winnipegger Maeengan Linklater is originally from Lac Seul First Nation, Ont. — Obizigokaang (Land of the White Pines).