Two events that took place recently have brought attention back to the issue of Canada’s relationship with the Indigenous peoples of this land. The Assembly of First Nations held their annual conference in Montreal, and they were addressed by Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Opposition and presumed next Prime Minister of Canada. It wasn’t an altogether successful appearance. Some delegates stood and turned their backs on him while he spoke, while others contented themselves with either walking out, or booing. For Indigenous people, these were out of character and showed the depth of hostility which exists, not only towards Poilievre, but the Conservative Party generally.
Memories are fresh about the way Stephen Harper’s regime treated Indigenous issues, and the ongoing lack of respect shown to the First Nations. Yes, after researchers compiled damaging evidence of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples, particularly concerning Indian Residential Schools [IRS], Harper did formally apologise in the House of Commons. But then, weeks later, he cut all federal funding for those same research offices by more than 70% – both a punishment and an attempt to ensure they never found anything damaging again. On that level, he failed completely.
Following the apology, Poilievre went public with a statement that he questioned the value of compensating residential school survivors, instead of pushing the values of “hard work and independence.” This did not go down well in Indigenous communities, where the reality of the IRS effects are only too real.
Poilievre’s promise to the AFN conference that he and his Party “believe that economic reconciliation is part of social progress. We need jobs and opportunity for First Nations communities”, sounded fine, but one wonders what is meant by “economic reconciliation”: does it mean investment in Indigenous communities, or simply throwing money to people with no actual economic development opportunities because of the location and character of the land on which they were deposited in decades gone by. The record does not inspire confidence.
The other event with important implications for Indigenous relations with the wider Canadian society was the release of an interim report by Kimberly Murray, Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. It was a damning indictment of government handling of IRS institutions over more than a century, complete with concrete evidence of serious and sustained neglect, and worse, of Indigenous children attending such schools. There is much to say about this issue and Ms. Murray’s report, but it deserves time and analysis before discussing it in detail. This is especially so because of the way in which the report has been presented in the media.
As with the controversy which arose with the claims of unmarked graves at Kamloops and other IRS sites, more heat than light was shed on the subject by media and government at the time. There was a rush by governments at all levels to take actions in response, or at least to look like they were acting. Much of what came about was a series of rather empty and purely symbolic events, lacking any genuine depth or awareness of what the gestures really meant. It seemed they grew out of a panic-stricken guilt rather than a true awareness of history and reality.
History is never that simple, never as clear-cut as we’d like it to be. Treating all IRS institutions as part of a monolithic conspiracy which involved every government since the 1880’s (and before), every religious order involved in operating the schools, every teacher, staff member and bureaucrat in the Indian Department, does a disservice to both history and the survivors of the schools. Because, given public antipathy in many cases, a general ignorance of Indigenous history, and a reaction against the attacks and guilt provoked by the media response, there is bound to be a reaction, a backlash. And if there’s any inaccuracies in reporting the facts, any exaggeration or false claim, it will only feed into that backlash and damage the genuine cause of truth and reconciliation.
We all, Indigenous and Settler, owe it to the past, the children, the survivors, and ourselves, to ensure that we get this right, that there are no politically motivated claims that cannot be substantiated. I have worked for Indigenous communities and organisations for over thirty-five years, and I know how Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples is as horrific as that of the United States regarding slavery and civil rights. It is our own national disgrace. But we can’t undermine the reality by rushing into making statements and using words that cannot be supported by the facts.
I’ve said this many times, but it deserves repeating: there can be no Reconciliation without Truth; and the truth in this case, is bad enough. Canadians need to know their history, so do Indigenous people; we cannot assume we know it, we have to do the hard work, face the unpalatable facts, and deal with the reality. That is our responsibility to all those who have suffered.
