CONTENTS:
(1) COMMENTARY
(2) FROM TRUTH TO RECONCILATION
(3) MEDIA ADVISORY, DETAILS OF CROSS-CANADA TOUR
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Good old CBC Radio. And wonderful host, Anna Maria Tremonti, of the program “The Current”.
If you missed Marlene Brant Castellano talking about the Truth & Reconciliation process, you can hear it at: (Link no longer valid: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2008/200803/20080304.html)
Scroll down to bottom of page, “Listen to The Current” and click on “part 3”
Attend the meetings that are going across Canada. You will be rewarded.
In earlier emails about addiction and dysfunctional lives, around the time of the death of CBC Radio Host of “Morningside”, Peter Gzowski, I talked about the book “From the Belly of the Beast”. Peter was a contributor to the book.
“From the Belly of the Beast” could have been a collection of stories written by First Nations people. But it isn’t. It is a collection of stories written mostly by selected and famous Canadian writers, poets, and artists – irrespective of cultural background. Some are First Nations.
The common thread is that the life of each of the contributors to “In the Belly of the Beast” is at high risk because of addiction. In almost all the cases, the self-destruction goes back to abuse in early childhood. The connection is striking.
The book “From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools ” IS a collection of stories written by First Nations people. “Prepared for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation By Marlene Brant Castellano, Linda Archibald and Mike DeGagné, 2008”. It’s new. I haven’t read it. I think it includes the side of the story not told in “In the Belly of the Beast”, which is the story of the abuser.
The stories make you cry. And you wonder how we can be so ineffective at protecting our own children from the kind of abuse that leads to dysfunction, addiction and premature ugly death. And how it is that we cannot arrest the deteriorating spiral that is passed down from generation to generation.
Tragedy in childhood begets tragedy in adulthood begets another child born in tragedy. It doesn’t matter what race you are, the consequences are the same – – almost.
It DOES matter what race you are when it comes to the LIKELIHOOD that you will be born into the tragedy. The residential schools brought young children from one background, First Nations, together in one group. In some cases the management of the schools preyed on the weak and vulnerable.
Irish immigrants, immigrants from England, Scotland, Norway, the Ukraine etc. – didn’t have their children herded into one common school, distant and removed from community supervision. Obviously the LIKELIHOOD that you will have abuse in your family background, handed down generation-to-generation is far greater if you are of First Nations background.
I believe that abusers lie in all societies, and have through time. We hide it in “white” society, keep it a secret. The same as First Nations people have done and have had to do. … until now, through the courage of people.
The motivation for the artist collaboration to write and publish “From the Belly of the Beast” was to get the issue out into the open. Which is what the Truth and Reconciliation process is doing. It is showing the way:
here’s how we CAN arrest the spiral of self-destruction. The process is built on the example of the Truth and Reconciliation process associated with Nelson Mandela in South Africa in the aftermath of apartheid. (We have had apartheid in Canada, but more subtley than in South Africa.)
THE GIFT:
– Understanding is a gift. It crosses over cultural boundaries.
– The First Nations are leading the way on this.
It is AS RELEVANT and NECESSARY in non-First Nations communities. “In the Belly of the Beast” is about addiction that is destroying lives. It’s about the abuse of young and vulnerable children, regardless of background. It happens to children from many different backgrounds.
Critically, the First Nations approach through Truth & Reconciliation is a holistic approach that includes the abuser, the abused and the community.
– A myth we hold is that the abusers are men. Frank O’Dea (“from skid row to CEO” of Second Cup (coffee shops) has documented his story in the book “When All You Have is Hope”. There are women, too, who prey on young children. The rape of the child is the beginning of a torturous road of alienation that leads to skid row.
We have this stupid cultural macho thing whereby if a young male is raped by a woman, his virility and stature is to be celebrated by his peers and even adults. It is almost impossible for the young male to lodge complaint. And yet the destruction to the psyche of the young male child is as great as if the abused was a female child and the abuser an adult male.
I hope the Truth and Reconciliation process around the residential schools will have it “out”, will expose all the roots, wherever they may be.
Marlene Brant Castellano tells us, importantly: it is not only the abused that suffer. The powerful thing about the Truth and Reconciliation process is that the abusers, too, can be healed. (I believe it is the only way to stop the cycle. But don’t listen to me! Listen to Marlene talking with Anna Maria Tremonti at (Link no longer valid: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2008/200803/20080304.html )
The process is a difficult one for those who provide “the truth”, whether abuser or abused. It has to be supported in order to succeed. I am hoping for a large turn-out to the meetings. You will be rewarded.
A thousand thanks to the First Nations and other people behind “FROM TRUTH TO RECONCILATION”.
They will be in Saskatoon on Sunday, March 9th at the Western Development Museum. I will attend. Watch for them in your community.
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(2) FROM TRUTH TO RECONCILATION
http://media.knet.ca/node/3522
From Truth to Reconciliation Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools
Click here to download the entire publication
Prepared for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation By Marlene Brant Castellano, Linda Archibald and Mike DeGagné, 2008
Dedication
Dedicated to the memory of Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, our colleague and friend. The inspiration for this book was yours. Your love of education and research was a guide to common purpose, understanding, and reconciliation.
We are grateful for your encouragement and support, and we miss you.
Preface
The launch of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission pursuant to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement is a historic event. For the first time, a chapter in our history will be opened up to a public process with the purpose of acknowledging harms done and healing the relationship between peoples within Canada.
The legacy of residential schools has weighed heavily on the lives and wellbeing of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis individuals and communities for generations. The Settlement Agreement endorsed by Survivors, churches, and the Government of Canada signals a shared commitment to create a more harmonious, mutually respectful future.
Much attention has been given to the compensation payments that form part of the Agreement. Payments now being distributed will relieve some immediate needs, but our Elders remind us that money soon disappears and that we need to look for things of lasting value. The knowledge that the voices of our injured relations have been heard, memorials to the resilience of those who survived and remembrance of those who died, and the ongoing work of community healing will have lasting value.
A paper in this volume proposes that where common memory is lacking, where people do not share in the same past, there can be no real community. Where community is to be formed, common memory must be created. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in bearing witness to what has gone before, will help to create collective memory and shared hope that will benefit Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada long into the future.
This volume is a collection of papers and brief reflections from more than thirty contributors who have worked to create just and inclusive societies in Canada and abroad. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation is honoured to present a distillation of their experience and wisdom to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as it sets out on its mission to transform the legacy of Indian residential schools.
Masi,
Georges Erasmus
President
Aboriginal Healing Foundation
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(3) MEDIA ADVISORY, DETAILS OF CROSS-CANADA TOUR
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The Saskatoon public event is being hosted by the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism. It will include a traditional welcome, prayers and songs, a time to speak truth about the past, a time to acknowledge some significant steps on the healing walk, a time to speak of hopes for the future. The event will conclude with a light supper and a round dance.
Guests expected to attend the Saskatoon public event include: Ted Quewezance, Executive Director of the National Residential Schools Survivors Society; Wayne Courchene, Senior Aide to National Chief Phil Fontaine, Assembly of First Nations; Seetal Sunga, the Secretariat of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Warren Mitchelson, MLA for Moose Jaw North; Rt. Rev. Rodney Andrews, Anglican Bishop of Saskatoon; Cam Broten, MLA for Saskatoon Massey Place; Frank Quennell, MLA for Saskatoon Meewasin.
. . . . For further information about the Aboriginal and Church Leaders’ tour, please visit: www.rememberingthechildren.ca
/For further information:
Mary-Frances Denis
Communications Officer
The United Church of Canada
416-231-7680 ext. 2016 (office)
1-800-268-3781 ext. 2016 (toll-free)
416-885-7478 (cell)
416-766-0057 (home)
mdenis@united-church.ca
Karyn Pugliese
Communications Officer
Assembly of First Nations
613-241-6789 ext. 210
613-292-1877
kpugliese at afn.ca