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Letter: Fact-based approach must guide Truth and Reconciliation

Dear editor, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system with an opportunity to share their stories and experiences.
Airdrie letters_text

Dear editor,

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system with an opportunity to share their stories and experiences. There is much that can be said about the TRC, which was implemented in 2007 and resulted in the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history.

The intention of the commission was to bring to light the sad history of Canada's residential school system and initiate healing, understanding, and restitution. Between 2007 and 2015, the Government of Canada provided about $72 million to support the TRC's work. In June 2015, the TRC held its closing event in Ottawa and presented the executive summary of the findings contained in its multi-volume final report, including 94 calls to action to facilitate reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. Evidently, one of the calls to action did not include safe drinking water. This is a related matter.

So what happened?

Sept. 30, 2021 marked the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The new holiday honours the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Last summer, hundreds of remains were discovered at a known but neglected grave site near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Local authorities said they belonged, in some cases, to children as young as three years old. Weeks later, another 751 grave sites were said to have been found near the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.

To date, there seems to be no evidence that any of the students have been identified. Any evidence to the contrary would be welcome but so far, nobody has been carefully and respectfully exhumed or examined, or carefully and honourably re-interred in a properly marked grave.

Even so, without the facts to temper public opinion and action, (and of course the political positioning response) at least 68 Christian churches in Canada have been vandalized, burned down or desecrated.

The matter has become something that must not be discussed or questioned. The orange flags that municipal governments, Airdrie included, and other displays are fading. They are losing their impact and if anything, offer a further disservice to the people they are intended to support.

Rocky View Schools recently announced the appointment of a new Director of Indigenous Learning to presumably further the work of the TRC and also unveiled an Indigenous art installation.  

There can be no truth or reconciliation without the truth or transparency provided by facts. If further education and understanding is the goal of any initiatives to support Indigenous issues, then surely truth should be the key to reconciliation and moving forward.

Less political virtue signalling, bureaucracy, and posturing would allow for more, real progress in resolving these ongoing issues. Let the successful and thoughtful truth and reconciliation of Indigenous history and people be the template for any future initiatives that may well be required in the future.

Al Neitsch

Windsong


Airdrie Today Staff

About the Author: Airdrie Today Staff

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