First Nations tragedy must become known to Canadians

Residential-schools commission calls for national awareness campaign

by TAMARA BALUJA AND GLORIA GALLOWAY, The Globe and Mail

The commission that was established to reveal the dark legacy of church-run residential schools for aboriginal children says all Canadians should be made more aware of the sorry chapter in their country’s history.

In an interim report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be released on Friday in Vancouver, Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair says comprehensive awareness efforts are needed to ensure that the rest of Canada fully understands the pain of the students who attended the schools and the parents whose children were taken from them.

Judge Sinclair recommends that every province and territory review its public-school curriculum to assess what, if anything, is being taught about the residential schools and to develop age-appropriate educational material. In addition, the TRC would like to work with the governments to develop unique local campaigns to educate the general public on residential schools.

After assessing statements and testimony from thousands of survivors and more than 100 former employees of the schools, Judge Sinclair says “we were reminded afresh that all of this happened to little children who had no control over their lives.”

About 150,000 first nations, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend the government schools throughout the 1900s. The last one closed outside Regina in 1996.

The interim report follows a scathing assessment from another federally appointed panel on the current state of first-nations education that urged the federal government to bring per-pupil funding into line with students in the provincial systems.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s formal apology in 2008 for the harm done by the residential schools notwithstanding, the TRC wants the federal government to send a letter of apology to all known residential school survivors and display such letters in every secondary school in the country.

The $60-million commission was struck as part of an agreement between the survivors, the Crown and the federal government, and the interim report outlines 20 recommendations.

The TRC also suggested establishing mental-health wellness facilities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories that specialize in childhood trauma and traditional healing methods that are “critically needed by residential school survivors.”

And the TRC says the federal government and churches that ran schools should invest money in reviving traditional aboriginal cultural and linguistic heritages, and that they and other agencies should hand over all relevant documents to the commission so that it can continue its work.

The commission is halfway through its five-year mandate and has visited a total of about 500 communities in every province and territory. The commissioners will deliver the full report when their mandate expires in 2014.

Globe editorial calls for concrete action to address tragedy of residential schools

Canadians need to be educated about trauma of residential schools

by Globe and Mail Editorial staff, 24feb12

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s historic apology to survivors of the residential schools was a fundamental first step toward acknowledging the agony of their experience.

But now, more concrete action must be taken to address the tragic consequences of forcibly separating 150,000 Inuit, Métis and First Nations children from their families, consequences that continue to reverberate in aboriginal communities today.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s interim report makes several specific recommendations, which Ottawa and the provinces would be wise to implement, among them making sure that every Canadian learns what went on in these institutions, and the extent of the abuse, neglect and cultural loss. The commissioners found that many Canadians remain ignorant about those events. A massive public education campaign is needed, including the development of an authoritative curriculum and teaching materials for schools.

Imagine the horror of being scooped from your home, sent to live in a boarding school hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres away, subjected to physical and sexual abuse, forbidden to speak your native tongue or practise your religion, and having your name changed to a number. Imagine dying without ever seeing your parents again.

Knowing this will help school students better understand the legacy of such trauma in native communities, which today takes the form of addictions, family breakdown, sexual abuse and poor educational and health outcomes.

The commission recommends that mental health facilities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories be built that specialize in childhood trauma and traditional healing methods. With a suicide rate that is 12 times higher than the national one, it seems cruel that such facilities do not already exist. Parenting programs are also a worthy investment.

Commissioners Marie Wilson, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Justice Murray Sinclair are not being hyperbolic when they say residential schools were an assault on aboriginal culture, families and society. “People are angry at being told they should simply ‘get over it,’” the report observes. “Canadians have been led to believe that Aboriginal people were and are uncivilized, primitive and inferior.... This lack of education and misinformation has led to misunderstanding and... hostility between aboriginals and non-aboriginals.”

The government-funded residential schools operated for a century; the last ones didn’t close until the 1990s. Reconciliation will take generations. But the healing process will proceed more quickly if all Canadians understand the stories of despair – and of survivors’ heroism – from this regrettable chapter in the country’s history.

Mary Spencer fights the good fight, mentors Cape Croker kids

If there's anything I admire in this world, it's a gal who knows her roots and honours her father by continuing his mission, and if she can throw a mean right hook, well, that's pretty cool too!

Here is a story about Canadian Olympic gold medal hopeful Mary Spencer who regularly takes time out from her busy life to travel many hours to Cape Croker reserve near Wiarton, Ontario, where she hangs with the kids, brings boxing equipment and generally continues the benign tradition of her dad, who was Ojibway and was the United Church minister on the reserve.


By Randy Starkman
TheStar.com Olympic Sports Reporter


Mary Spencer is a true freedom fighter

WIARTON, ONT.—For Canadian gold medal hopeful Mary Spencer, the road to the 2012 London Olympics runs right through the Cape Croker Indian Reserve.

The three-time world champion, in heavy training for the Olympic debut of women’s boxing next summer, somehow finds the time to drive 10 hours here and back from Windsor — at least once a month — to hang out with “her kids” on the reserve.

On a recent visit, one perfect summer’s day, Spencer and the native children she mentors go out for a run, paddle canoes, play volleyball and tuck into a barbecue together. It’s as though Christmas has come early to Cape Croker, and not just because the champ has brought four cartons of new boxing gear.

From the moment she arrives, Spencer draws the kids like a magnet. They crowd around, vying for attention, peals of laughter echoing along the shores of Georgian Bay. The youngest literally hang off her as they splash in the water.

“I’m a leech!” cries Breanna Watkinson, who attaches herself to Spencer during a swim. But they all seem to get some quiet time with her, too, teens and younger ones alike, including 8-year-old Halle Johnston, who skips rocks with Spencer as they wait for the canoeing to commence.

Spencer asks Johnston about school: “I like it, but there’s bad kids there. They call me names.”

“But you don’t listen to them, do you?”

The visits have an extra meaning for Spencer because her father, Cliff, who is Ojibway, was a United Church minister at Cape Croker when Mary was younger.

“I feel like this is my own version of it, that I can come out and hang out with the kids and be there for them if they need advice or show them stuff, teach them stuff,” she says. “It’s almost the same thing. That’s the way I kind of see it, a ministry of sorts.”

A ministry it may be, but there is no preaching. Mary has an easy rapport with the children, many of whom she’s known for years.

“Do you ever swear?” Daisy Jones asks as they come out of the water.

“No,” says Spencer

“I don’t believe you,” says Jones. “You said the word sh-ts.”

“That’s because you guys were trying to drown me,” laughs Spencer.

While the visits are exhausting — for all involved — Spencer says she easily gets back just as much as she gives. Spending time at the reserve replenishes her spirit in a way little else can.

“I think about when I was a kid . . . little things that somebody probably didn’t think would make a big impression on me, but it did,” she said. “So, I’m hoping these are the kinds of days that these kids are going to remember. . . . They’re having a lot of fun while doing things that are good for them.”

Spencer says her obvious bond with the young ones here comes naturally.

“Coming back to Cape Croker is special for me just because some of these kids are my cousins, their parents knew my parents or know me. I feel like I’m at home when I’m here.”

It’s all a far cry from Spencer in the ring, a fearsome opponent who has been known to send a message with more than her fists. She won her third world title by dismantling reigning world champion Jinzi Li of China last fall in the Barbados 14-2 in the final — a feat made more impressive by the fact she moved up in weight class from 66 to 75 kilos, because there are only three women’s Olympic divisions.

Rather than go out and celebrate, Spencer had a plan. She made sure she woke up first thing the next morning to go for a run around the hotel complex where the athletes were staying, hoping opponents would see her.

“My whole reasoning for that is, I want them when they get in the ring with me to be okay with losing to me, to be okay with giving up when they should be pushing harder,” she told the Star at the time. “I want them to think I’m supposed to win.”

To the other boxers, Spencer is simply the reigning world champ and the one to beat. But there is another part of her identity she would like the world to know about.

“I remember every time I used to represent a native team, whether it was a basketball team or a volleyball team, there was just that sense of pride,” she says. “I think other native athletes need to feel that sense of pride when they see me competing, the same way other Canadians do. There should be something special for aboriginal Canadians.”




That something special is evident to 8-year-old Halle, who was on the receiving end of the pep talk about bullies at school. What’s so special about the boxer’s visits to Cape Croker?

“She’s fun, she’s cool and she’s awesome,” says Halle.

Jennifer Johnston, Halle’s mom, says what Spencer provides, apart from the laughs and chats, is inspiration.

“The kids really love her. I see a huge difference in the kids that do go. She’s a good inspiration to the children here. They look forward to having her,” she says. “Every month, they make sure they ask when she’s coming and they’re waiting for her, they’re waiting at the door with open arms and great big ‘I love you’s.’ ”

The boxer is slowly drawing more kids out to the group. On this day, 5-year-old Madeline Linklater turns up because she wants to meet Spencer after seeing her featured on TSN. She shyly hands Spencer a note and picture she has made in a handmade envelope. It wishes her good luck at the Olympics and shows a podium with a medal and boxing gloves.

Spencer keeps it real with the kids with an easy laugh and a self-deprecating sense of humour. They talk about anything and everything.

Some of the kids struggle with motivation and get into trouble, something that Spencer can definitely relate to having grown up in a housing project in Windsor. She’s reluctant to delve into her misspent youth too deeply, but admits she skipped more classes than she ever attended and even failed gym.

Her transformation happened the moment she stepped into a boxing ring.

“Boxing for me was almost supernatural,” she said. “I started boxing and it was like ‘Okay, this is what you’re going to do and you’re going to make sure you become a champion.’ Day one, I wanted to be a champion. I was serious about being a champion.

“Some things took time to change, like my group of friends. That took a bit of time. . . . If you’re doing something right, other things just won’t mix with it. Eventually things just turned around.”

It’s a powerful story, one that takes on more resonance for the kids here as they realize she is just like them. They are following her every step of the way, and recently went to watch her fight in Wasaga Beach. The community has started talking about trying to raise money to send some of the children to the London Olympics, although they say it’s unlikely to happen.

But the kids will be in London, anyway, just as they were in Barbados when Spencer went up against the reigning world champion from China.

“As I was walking up to the ring, I was imagining that these kids were in the stands, that they were watching this fight and I needed to win because they needed to see me win, they needed to know that I was going to win,” Spencer says.

“It just carries that extra weight when you’re trying to reach out to someone or trying to do something. . . . I remember thinking about them going into that final, so of course it fuels the fire.”

As this day draws to a close, Spencer reluctantly pulls herself away from “her kids.” After they’ve all jumped off a concrete pier into the cool waters of Georgian Bay, the fighter prepares for the five-hour-plus drive back home to Windsor.

The young ones and teens, exhausted after being put through their paces, are loathe to see her go.

But they know she’ll be back.


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