Who Will Join Me In The Prisoners’ Dock?

Positive IRS comments from former TRC commissioners

Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash

By James C. McCrae

“These experiences must also be heard” - TRC Chair Murray Sinclair

“I probably would have been found on skid row somewhere dead years ago had it not been for, had it not been for residential school.” - TRC Commissioner Willie Littlechild

“We definitely have heard … appreciation and gratitude for, first of all, the education that people received, and also individual people who were very important in their success …”  - TRC Commissioner Marie Wilson 

The federal government is being asked to make Indian Residential School (IRS) “denialism” illegal. An essential ingredient of any crime is its definition. After all, if we can’t describe what the crime is, it will be difficult to make it an offence. Or, in a country where freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, how can anyone who asks questions about the history of Indian Residential Schools be punished?

If such a ban on discussion is enacted, who will be indicted? Who will be guilty? The list of those accused will be long but, for today, let’s start at the top.

There were three Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) members: Chair Murray Sinclair and Commissioners Wilton (Willie) Littlechild and Marie Wilson. 

As far back as August 2010, Chairman Sinclair issued the injunction that the stories of committed, dedicated, compassionate, and nurturing educators must be told. “These experiences must also be heard” - Calgary Herald

Two of the three TRC commissioners, Littlechild and Wilson, met at a gathering with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate on May 2-3, 2011 at St. Albert, Alberta. The Oblates had operated dozens of the residential schools. They and their associates made their presentations, telling the commissioners about their experiences with and service to Indigenous communities and residential schools. Many spoke of their love and care for Indigenous children and the length of their service to them. They spoke of their positive relationships with the families of the children, Indigenous communities, and the children themselves.

The commissioners gave replies. In one, Commissioner Littlechild said:

 “But also, we’ve heard the very important call for getting the story right, getting the story correct. And I remember a bishop in Vancouver said to me, he pointed at me, and he said, ‘Willy (sic), you better get this right. Reconciliation, you better do it right, if you do not, you’re gonna damage reconciliation for a long, long time.’”

Agreeing that the IRS story has “two sides”, Littlechild said: 

“The more we can have sessions like this, the more we’ll be able to have the full story about both sides. So on the call for gratitude, I just want to express my own personal gratitude to all of you for the, what is it? Six hundred and twelve years you’ve dedicated to us. ‘Cause I’ve said many times that for me, I probably would have been found on skid row somewhere dead years ago had it not been for, had it not been for residential school.”

Further:

“So, yes, we’re trying to do the, the best that we can in terms of telling the full story. So, hopefully that answers your question … although it’s a small group here, you collectively have spent one thousand, one hundred and seventy-one years in your religious life. However, 612 of those years was directly dedicated to indigenous people, and that’s really over half of your life has been spent on us or with us. So thank you for that.” 

The word “survivor” is often used to describe former IRS students. Littlechild had something to say about that, too:

“Very, personally, on a very personal level, I did not feel comfortable with the word survivor. And the analogy I, I made was my dad and my uncle fought for Canada in World War II, and they came home alive. They were survivors. I went to residential school for 14 years … I’m a former student …”

Also addressing the Oblates/associates, Commissioner Marie Wilson said: 

“We definitely have heard, and I don’t think there’s been a hearing we’ve been to, certainly in these intensive northern ones, where we have not heard appreciation and gratitude for, first of all, the education that people received, and also individual people who were very important in their success … I personally know of someone from Yellowknife, who travelled all the way to Winnipeg on her own specifically to go meet with an elderly Sister there to thank her for all that she did for the children over the years that they were in residential school together, and to make sure she knew that while there were critical things, true things being said about some of the things that went wrong, that it was also very important for her to know that she had been a tremendously positive force, and to thank you.”

As for “getting the story right”, the Vancouver bishop who spoke to Willie Littlechild was spot on. “Reconciliation, you better do it right, if you do not, you’re gonna damage reconciliation for a long, long time.”  (Prophetic, given the current climate of finger-pointing, name-calling, anger and guilt.)

Will these three TRC Commissioners be required to join me in the prisoner’s box, along with the growing multitude of Canadians who question, for just one example, the claim that there are 200 or more Indigenous children’s bodies lying under the ground in a former apple orchard at Kamloops, B.C.?

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author, read Has justice been obstructed at Kamloops?

Also, for more evidence of the ideological indoctrination in Canadian education, read Yes, schools are indoctrinating kids! And also, Yes, The University is an Indoctrination Camp!

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