The news for the past month has brought up a question of who I am -- challenging my identity as a Canadian. I've been aware of residential school practices for decades. Inquiries into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls addressed something that had been on my radar for a long time. Going to school in Saskatoon and Winnipeg brought these stories to light from news reports to community stories to indigenous stage plays as a form of story and truth telling. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was tabled in 2015. While gathering information from survivors, we heard parts of the larger story, part of which was included in the report. The section of the report that stood out for me was the list of 94 Calls to Action -- not vague things to think about but actual concrete examples of how to acknowledge and provide indigenous rights. Here we are six years later. It took a news report of 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops for these stories to sink in for many people, despite the report estimating 3000 to 5000 died in the school system. This is likely a very conservative estimate of the true toll. Hearing today of 751 unmarked graves found in Saskatchewan clearly shows the enormity of the truth.
So -- back to identity. Revisiting my personal identity as a citizen of this country means that I have to acknowledge and accept the truth of the dark history of my nation. I have known of many of the injustices for years, but the sheer size of it has been difficult to grasp -- until now. To work through the personal identity question requires that I reassess the role I play in the system at the root of these atrocities. I need to reflect on my settler view and the privilege that comes with that. When making a land acknowledgement, I challenge others to be less perfunctory. Learn the correct pronunciations of the nations to whom we pay respect in this way. I've added some personal phrasing from past reflection on my family's impact on the lives of indigenous peoples. For example, my ancestors cleared the tall grass prairie to make way for farms and ranches that provided for their families. Three generations of my father's family worked for a railroad company. Building those rail lines involved clearing more land from east coast to west coast. Since the building and running of the railway would be negatively impacted by the huge herds of buffalo that roamed the prairies on both sides of the Great Medicine Line, people were hired to exterminate the herds. These animals were central to the daily life of many first nations -- food, clothing, shelter, tools, fuel and a sense of community. More travel lies ahead of me as I continue this journey to understand who I am and how my actions and those of my ancestors have affected the lives of others.
So -- what can we all do now? Listen. Listen to the truth and reflect on it. Then we will be in a better place to speak truth to power. Listening to the stories will not be easy, but it must be done. Seek help with the emotions that are sure to arise.
I'd like to include the words of Gord Downie, front man for the Tragically Hip. Telling the truth as a pathway to reconciliation was a major undertaking for him that became a 10-song album, a graphic novel and an animated film. He stated,
"The next 100 years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him -- but only when we do can we truly call ourselves 'Canada'."
The selection for today is one of the ten written by Gord Downie that introduces the animated film telling the story of Chanie Wenjack an Anishinaabe boy who escaped from a residential school in 1966. The film, The Secret Path can be found on CBC site. Stay safe. Enjoy!
The Stranger -- Gord Downie
No comments:
Post a Comment