I received an email from my friend George about the Residential School issue facing us in Canada. The letter was supported by a group called ACT for Canada. George got two responses from his mail out to his friends my response is first, and another friend response is second, followed by the actual letter so you can judge our responses.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi George,
I do enjoy your posts and appreciate them, they cause me to laugh and to think.
This one caused me to think, so I did some research on ACT! for Canada and
found this:
“ACT!
for Canada,” a group that exists to provide a cover to those who promote even
more active hate in the streets.
The
information was about an event that was cancelled in Ottawa in 2017. Here
is the link https://www.socialist.ca/
Years
ago, most of the dead were placed in the trees so the birds and other
animals could take them back to nature. This statement plays to the
myth that the Indigenous people were not as enlightened as “White society”, as
they did not bury their dead and the next statement makes the church out to be
the savour of these people by getting them to bury their dead.
It was the churches that convinced them that that part of
their culture should be changed so that to stop the spread of disease,
so they started to bury the dead.
The following statement buys into the myth that the way of life of the Indigenous was
not sustainable and that if these people wanted success, they had to change
their culture, which was the reason for the Residential School "To take
the Indian out of the Indian". The missionaries knew that
the ancient peoples of our land could not continue to exist in a
nomadic and isolated society, so they tried to educate them and of
course, change their culture to be more compatible with the conditions of
the times. Were they right? Maybe, I don't know, but at least they
were willing to try and help.
This statement basically says that the Indigenous people must become Canadian,
whatever that means, I suspect it means "white, with Anglo Saxon
values" Like I tell my children, I cannot become indigenous like them,
but they can become Canadians like me, and they are
One
more, and then I quit, the following statement perpetuates the myth that the
Indigenous people are lazy and only want the money.
It seems to me that many of the new generations just want
to be victims and feel the money would solve their pain.
As
I said just enough truth to be plausible, so they can spread their hate
message. Your thoughts?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The second response is from an old university friend of George's. He was the Anglican Bishop of
the Arctic for many years & is now retired in Nanaimo. I think you will
find it interesting. Cheers, George
Thanks,
George
This
is quite a different perspective from much is being written these days, and
flies in the face of Reports such as those of the Royal Commission Report, the
Report on Missing and Murdered Women, and the Report of the Truth and
Reconciliation Committee, all of which were carefully researched and include
many testimonials of First Nations/Aboriginals who were students in the
Residential Schools.
My
comments:
I
don’t know who Jim Bissell is, but assume that, although he states that he grew
up surrounded by indigenous peoples, that he was not one of them. The treatment
he received by those operating the schools (nuns, clergy, etc.) suggests, in
light of the Reports referred to above that he was given preferential
treatment, different from those of aboriginal students.
It
is true there were good people among the teachers and other employees of the
schools, but there were also many who were not. There was poor screening of
staff and a high proportion had no idea of how to teach, discipline for those
in their care, and little respect for those of indigenous background, belief or
culture, including language. The writer does acknowledge that those who were
abusive were simply reassigned elsewhere, and I know of some who damaged many
children in a number of different schools.
I
also agree that it was difficult to get staff to work in isolated northern
communities. Along with everything else, the pay was very low.
If
you are interested in reading further, I suggest two books from Nova Scotia (1)
Legacies of the Schubenacadie Residential School by Chris Benjamin (2014) and
(2) Out of the Depths – Legacies of the Schubenacadie Residential School by
Isabelle Knockwood (2015) – both ebooks.
With
best wishes,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Testimonial
letter: residential schools the other side of the story.
Here is a
letter by a person named Jim Bissell, which he wrote in reply to a Sun
columnist related to the “Residential schools” that is leading to church
terrorism (by non-native people). Lorne: I have been a follower of your
writings for many years and although I agree most of the time with your
opinion, even when I don't I still respect the way you present it. Suffice to
say I am a fan. The time has come for 70-year-old people like me to speak the little
background.
I grew up
surrounded by 4 reserves and a large community of indigenous peoples. (95%). It
was a community of wonderful, kind, very generous, very humorous people that
remained that way even when very poor. Also, I have a wonderful successful indigenous
daughter with grandkids and great-granddaughters. I am not a Catholic and I do
not belong to any church. I belong to me and my family, but I like Christian
values.
It should
be noted that the missionaries though were very essential to our success in the
northern communities at that time. I had my first TB test administered by a
missionary trying to stop a TB outbreak. (I hated her at the time for the
scratches on my back. LOL). I got my first stitches from a wonderful nun. I got
my first tooth pulled by a missionary. My first X-ray by the nuns. My first
teacher was an angel called Sister Rita. I will never forget her and her deep
love of all the children she met and taught over the years. My best teacher
ever and she was not qualified by Government standards. So although I have never
been a Catholic, their church has been very good for me and although I now do
know of one very bad priest, most of the people were wonderful. I can still see Brother Fillion who later became a priest working all by himself outside the
school window making a wonderful merry-go-round for the schoolyard.
There also
were two residential schools in the community. When I arrived in the community,
there were no phones, very poor roads, mostly winter access, and not a lot of services
other than the churches. The mission school was there long before my time. It
has been told to me by elders that many small children, some way younger than
school age, were dropped off at the missions sick, hoping the nuns could heal
them. Sad to say many died from measles, diphtheria, TB, smallpox, flu and many
other conditions of the poor. Just the reality of the north. Years ago, most of
the dead were placed in the trees so the birds and other animals could take
them back to nature.
It was the
churches that convinced them that that part of their culture should be changed
so that to stop the spread of disease, so they started to bury the dead. If the
dead were Christians, their grave was marked by a painted rock of a small
wooden cross which rotted away in 25 years or so. No one could afford a
headstone and if they could there was no one that made them at the time. Times
were hard and in fact desperate in the 30’s Many people owed their lives to the
missionaries, and we tend to forget that.
They were
not always right, no of course not, but they actually wanted to educate, feed
and make the lives of all people better regardless of where they came from. The
churches do not need to apologize for trying to educate the poor in the only
system that would work for nomadic peoples, they need to say sorry though for
protecting and moving about the few bad apples. (priests).
The
Government saying, they are sorry is meaningless. They didn't have a clue of
the impact of their decisions at the time and they don't have now. Most of the
older generation that did suffer are long dead and gone or have forgiven. It
seems to me that many of the new generation just want to be victims and feel
money would solve their pain. We need to understand that very few people wanted
to live in the north under the isolated conditions at the time just to help out
with a few indigenous peoples. After the federal government took over the school
system, most of my junior high school teachers were immigrants from the British
Commonwealth (India, England Ireland and other countries) as no Alberta
teachers wanted to live up there when they could live in or near a city with a
doctor, bank, good grocery store, ambulance and my goodness even Policeman.
The
quality of my education suffered because all of a sudden, the nuns were not
qualified to teach us in 1967 thus, I had to try and take lessons from teachers
with a very heavy accent and hard to understand and wanting to move close to
the cities as soon as they could. Thank goodness the missionaries were there
for the past 300 years. Were they all good? No, but many were wonderful and now
that seems to be forgotten.
How many
of today's critics have relatives that went up to those communities in those
times to try and help? Not many, I bet. The media today is only telling half
the story, so I feel we as witnesses have to speak up and speak to the truth.
If you want, I will take you to a sacred ground where hundreds of people were
left in the ramps and trees or layed on the ground when they died. No one but
historical memory marked their graves.
Please
believe me when I say that the missionaries were not a bunch of evil persons
out to kill little children like it sounds in today's media. That is not what I
witnessed. The missionaries knew that the ancient peoples of our land could not
continue to exist in a nomadic and isolated society, so they tried to educate
them and of course change their culture to be more compatible with the
conditions of the times. Were they right? Maybe, I don't know, but at least
they were willing to try and help.
Like I
tell my children, I cannot become indigenous like them, but they can become
Canadians like me, and they are. There are more success stories out there than
even you realize. The missionaries did not just throw bodies into the ground.
Most were marked by a small wooden cross made by the brothers of the mission or
parents of the child. Those crosses are long gone. Sad but true. I can also
take you to the unmarked graves of many people that were not indigenous as well
if you want. That was the way of the north.
Sorry to
ramble on for so long but many things need to be said and if the elders of our
society lack the moral courage to say them, we are doomed anyway. Please
encourage people to stand up and be heard for the good not just the bad. Thanks,
and keep writing.
Jim
Bissell
