Working Together for a Better Future

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada participated in the Journey of Heroes Indian Residential School Conference held in Derouche, British Columbia from January 19-21, 2010.

The Conference theme was "Working Together for a Better Future." TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair delivered the keynote address also led a number of sessions. One day of activities at the meeting were given over to TRC-related events, including statement gathering.

The Conference was organized by Chehalis Health & Family Services in partnership with Sto:lo Nation Health.

A key element of the conference was the honouring of 85 former residential school students. For the ceremony, the entranceway to the community hall was adorned with cedar boughs intended to cleanse away negative thoughts. At the event, each of the school survivors was covered with a special blanket and headband.

A canoe was specially commissioned for the event, a symbol of the need for all to work together if progress is to be made. Survivors were invited to take a chip from the canoe as a reminder of the need to provide support to one another.

Organizers: Left to Right: Jason Malloway, Master of Ceremonies; Ginny Peters, Health Manager for Chehalis Band, Diane Garner (Technical Coordinator) and Brenda Pierre (Cultural Coordinator) of Chehalis Band and Eddie Gardner, Conference Coordinator.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada appoints new directors

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is pleased announce the recruitment of four senior staff members:

• Lisa Meeches, Director, Events Planning and Artistic Programming

• James Bardach, Director, Strategic Planning, Communications, and Community Liaison

• Dr. John Milloy, Director of Research, Historical Records and Report Preparation

• Ry Moran, Director, Statement Gathering and National Research Centre.

Lisa Meeches has been the Executive Producer of Eagle Vision Inc. and Meeches Video Productions, two Winnipeg-based Aboriginal production companies that she founded. Eagle Vision was a co-production company on the film Capote and the television movie Elijah. Meeches has been the executive producer, director, and host of The Sharing Circle and the executive producer of Tipi Tales. With 25 years experiences in broadcasting, she is the recipient of the 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Media and Communication, the 2009 YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in the area of Creative Communications, and the 2009 University of Manitoba Excellence in Aboriginal Business Leadership Award.

James Bardach has been the Executive Director, Strategic Planning, of Poirier Communications, a national Aboriginal advertising agency that specializes in grassroots social marketing campaigns for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis audiences, for the past decade. From 1995 to 1999, he was a director with the firm. Prior to working for Poirier, he was the Director of Communications (1991-95) and Chief of Corporate Communications (1989-1991) for La Cité collégiale, Ontario’s first French-language college of applied arts and technology. He also worked for the National Capital Commission from 1985-1988.

Dr. John Milloy is history professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where he is a member Trent’s Department of Indigenous Studies. He is the author of A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986, published by the University of Manitoba Press in 1999. The book is the outcome of research that he commenced for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In 2005, the Literary Review of Canada selected A National Crime as one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history. He is a recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Trent’s most prestigious teaching honour, in 1986.

Ry Moran is the founder of YellowTilt Productions, an audio, video, and events company with a focus on Aboriginal language and oral history projects. YellowTilt has done work for the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Health Canada, the British Columbia Provincial Health Service Authority, and APTN. With Metis Nation BC, he has been involved in the development of LearnMichif.com, a project dedicated to the preservation of Michif language and culture. In his work with Traditions Consulting, he worked on the organization and development of a number of oral history projects.

TRC Executive Director Tom McMahon stated that with the appointment of the four key directors, and with the completion of renovations to its Winnipeg head office in March, the Commission will soon be well positioned to pursue its important tasks of gathering statements about residential school experiences and legacy, holding community and national events, collecting records relevant to the residential school experience, and beginning new research, including research into the fate of children who never returned from residential schools and whose parents were never informed of their fates.

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations Welcome TRC to Nuu-chah-nulth Territory

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair, Commissioner Marie Wilson, Commissioner Chief Wilton Littlechild, members of the TRC Survivor Committee and staff were welcomed to the traditional territory of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations on January 12, 2010 in Tofino, British Columbia.

A morning ceremony and welcome feast in the evening were held by hereditary chiefs and community members in honour of the Commission, which travelled to the west coast to hold meetings of the Survivor Committee at the Tin Wis Resort, a site where a former residential school once stood.

Justice Sinclair expressed gratitude for the special welcome and especially thanked the many youth, Elders and former residential school survivors who came out to greet the Commission with traditional songs and cultural dance.

The TRC also welcomed the presence of Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-In-Chut Atleo in his home territory. Chief Atleo reaffirmed the commitment of the AFN in supporting the work of the Commissioners and Survivor Committee members in carrying out the mandate of the Commission.

Chair Justice Sinclair extended an invitation to the National Chief to attend the First National Event of the TRC, slated for June 15-19, 2010 at The Forks in Winnipeg, Manitoba .

Nuu-chah-nulth Hereditary Chiefs welcome TRC

TRC opens new office, appoints new Executive Director

Truth and Reconciliation Canada (TRC) has opened its new headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba and appointed a new Executive Director, Tom McMahon.

TRC Chair Murray Sinclair said the move to Winnipeg brings the TRC closer to the majority of residential school survivors, who live western and northern Canada. Furthermore, most of the schools themselves were located in the west and the north. Finally, by locating in Winnipeg, Sinclair said the Commission is underscoring its independence from the Government of Canada.

Mr. McMahon is the former Executive Secretary of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. His Master of Laws degree thesis deals with the way the justice system treats Aboriginal People. He is bilingual and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1986. He has extensive experience as a Justice Canada lawyer with all aspects of administration of federal government institutions, statutes and policies, especially in relation to privacy, collaborative research and records management.

Memory Book and Statement Gathering

Truth and Reconciliation Canada’s Memory Book is now available in an electronic form. The Memory Book is a guide for Canadians who want to share their residential school experiences with the TRC.

It contains a brief description of the role of the TRC, things to consider when writing about your experiences, information about resources that are available to people involved in the TRC process, and suggested topics.

Anyone who has experiences that they would like to share with Truth and Reconciliation Canada is encouraged to download the book, fill it out, and send it back, along with a completed consent form (which is included in the book). It is also available in French and Inuktitut.

Truth and Reconciliation Canada has also begun collecting statements directly from former residential school students and others. In 2009, TRC representatives attended the St. Charles Garnier and St. Joseph’s Residential School Reunion in Spanish, Ontario and a gathering of former residential school students organized by the Indian Residential School Survivors Society in Kamloops, British Columbia. There they recorded statements from many of the reunion participants. In 2010, the statement gathering process will continue to expand.

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

Since their appointment on July 1, 2009, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners, Justice Murray Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild, and Marie Wilson have been travelling across the country, meeting individually and collectively with Canadians to discuss the ongoing Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Process. Among the many events they have attended are:

• A meeting of residential school survivors in Oromocto, New Brunswick.

• A conference in Montreal of national support workers who provide emotional health and wellness support to residential school survivors and their families.

• Meetings of residential school survivors in Sault Ste. Marie, Bkejwanong Territory (Walpole Island), and Spanish, Ontario.

• The relaunching of the Commission’s work with a special ceremony witnessed by Governor General Michaëlle Jean in Ottawa.

• A session in Orillia, Ontario, where Canadian churches were training Ambassadors of Reconciliation.

• Community gatherings of residential school survivors in Calgary, Hobbema, and Fort McMurray, Alberta.

• A meeting of residential school survivors in Kamloops, British Columbia.

• A meeting of the Residential Schools Inter-Agency Committee in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Indian Residential School Survivor Susie Jones (left) with TRC Commissioners Chief Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson in front of monument dedicated to all children from Walpole Island who attended residential schools.

The Commissioners also attended and participated in the Annual General Assembly of the Assembly of First Nations in Calgary, several meetings with the leadership of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the General Assembly of the Metis National Council in Vancouver, the Dene National Assembly in Lutselk’e, Northwest Territories, the triennial meeting of the General Council of the United Church of Canada in Kelowna, British Columbia, a symposium of First Nation, law enforcement, social services, and community officials in Sarnia, Ontario, and the annual meeting of the Indigenous Bar Association in Vancouver.

The Commission also announced that it will be holding its first national event in Winnipeg in the spring of 2010 and opened its new national office in Winnipeg.

At all meetings, the Commissioners have explained the Commission’s plans for the coming years and outlined how all Canadians can participate in the work of the TRC.

Commission Chair Sinclair said, “Survivors have expressed a desire for the process to get underway, particularly once they become aware of the Commission’s potential. People that we met want to share their stories with the rest of Canada.”

Commissioner Littlechild said he was impressed by a project being carried out by people in the Calgary area. They were creating their own Apology Book that individuals could sign as part of a personalized apology for the residential school process. “They said that there had been a National Apology, but they wanted to apologize to their neighbours. I thought it was a significant gesture.”

He was also impressed with the idea of the Forgiveness Model of healing the residential school survivors from the Maritimes have been developing over the past decade.

Commissioner Wilson said that one of the most powerful experiences of the first six months of work for her has been the sharing circles, which allow survivors to open up about their truths. “For people who are sharing their experience for the first time, the sharing circle in which the speaker has everyone’s support and in which everyone is equal is very important.”

She said those events which brought together residential school survivors and people who had only a limited understanding of the residential schools experience demonstrated the potential of the TRC process. “These are practical examples of reconciliation in which people meet and understand each other in new ways.”

A number of meetings have been held with the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement which established and mandated the TRC and with the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee, which provides the TRC with advice. One of its members recently represented the TRC at a residential school reunion in Whitehorse, Yukon.

The Survivor Committee itself has held three meetings, a teleconference, and has planned a fourth meeting for Tofino, British Columbia in January 2010.

TRC Chairperson Justice Murray Sinclair meeting with Survivors of St. Joseph's Indian Residential School (Spanish, Ontario)and members of the Shingwauk Community Healing Strategy Project in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Top left: Barbara Caughlin, middle left: Lulubelle Tessier, Barbara Nolan, Justice Murray Sinclair, Pauline Toulouse; bottom left: Mary Beaver (Elder), Mary Hill, and Mae Smith.

TRC CHAIR VISITS SHINGWAUK SITE

August 25, 2009, Sault Ste. Marie, ON -- Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission received a warm welcome from residential school survivors and officials during a visit to Shingwauk Hall, a former Indian Residential School site, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Shingwauk School Site

Officials with the Children of Shingwauk Alumni, National Residential School Survivors Society (NRSSS), and Algoma University provided a tour of the campus, grounds and visitor centre, including its extensive research and archive collection of Indian Residential Schools from across Canada. The Chair also met with residential school survivors and the Shingwauk Education Trust, which provides local community-based healing initiatives.

Shingwauk Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Sault Ste. Marie, was established in 1873 and operated as a residential school for First Nations children until it closed in 1970. Today, the former residential school building site is home to post-secondary students of Algoma University.

Des survivants des pensionnats et le président de la CVR

IRS Survivors and TRC Chair

Cemetery Headstone with writing

Indian Residential School Survivors and TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair pay respects at the cemetery grounds of Shingwauk Hall.

The Legacy of Hope Foundation and Native Counseling Services of Alberta has launched a national campaign - 1000 Conversations Across Canada on Reconciliation - that is intended to engage all Canadians in a dialogue about the history of residential schools, their resulting impacts and the need for healing and reconciliation. For more information on how to participate, please visit: www.1000conversations.ca.

Truth and Reconciliation Canada, 1500-360 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3Z3
Toll Free: 1-888-872-5554 (1-888-TRC-5554) Telephone: (204) 984-5885 Fax: (204) 984-5915 email: info@trc.ca