Residential Schools - Put it in your heart

I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone… Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, (Duncan Campbell-Scott, Department of Indian Affairs)

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is just wrapping up this week. The commission traveled across the country, giving aboriginal people a chance to tell their experiences of being taken away to live in schools "set up to eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development of Aboriginal children." 

Hopefully a few more Canadians will now understand that if you take generations of children, rip them from their families, tell them their worthless, and subject many of them to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse--yeah, you're going to get alcoholism and other social problems. On a big scale. As well as anger, and renewed fights for land, independence, and better living conditions.

Oh it's a big horrible mess. I'm glad the commission is using "cultural genocide" in its conclusion, cause these schools, along with other policies that outlawed cultural practices, were a conscious attempt by governments to erase indigenous people.

I was reading a lovely story on the CBC about an Anglican couple who witnessed one of the Commission's gatherings, and when they sought help to learn more, forged a friendship with a man who'd been raped at school. I recommend reading it, cause it's a great example of how healing between people begins. When you put aside ignorance and choose compassion.

Images of life appear 
Regret and anger, love and fear 
Dark things drift across the screen 
Of mind behind whose veil are seen 
Loves ferocious eyes, and clear 
The words come flying to my ear 
Go on -- put it in your heart