{"id":16654,"date":"2021-10-08T11:25:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=16654"},"modified":"2021-10-08T11:25:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:25:43","slug":"doug-george-kanentiio-taking-action-for-survivors-of-native-residential-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/10\/08\/doug-george-kanentiio-taking-action-for-survivors-of-native-residential-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug George-Kanentiio: Taking action for survivors of Native residential schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tSummary of the Inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Ottawa\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Summary of some of the events for the Inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Ottawa, including at Parliament Hill featuring “Little Bones” by…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Karli Zschogner: Inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Ottawa<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Four Points of Action from Residential School Survivors<\/div>\r\n
Friday, October 8, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Doug George-Kanentiio (Akwesasne Mohawk)<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nOn September 30 I gave a speech as to how Canada might actually realize the evasive truth and reconcilation with regards to the residential school victims.

<\/p>\r\nMy words were spoken on Parliament Hill in Ottawa<\/a> before a crowd of many thousands and a national audience, broadcast live across the country. It was part of the National Truth and Reconciliation Day<\/a>, now set aside for reflection and to commemorate the thousands of Native children buried in unmarked graves at the former school sites from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

<\/p>\r\nI began with acknowledging one of the last victims of the school I attended, the notorious Mohawk Institute, the mush hole, in Brantford, Ontario, 100 km west of Toronto. That child was Joey Commanda<\/a>, 13 years old when he was struck and killed by a commuter train on September 3, 1968 as he fled the Institute for his home on the Pikawanagan Algonquin Territory 450 km away.

<\/p>\r\nJoey’s death led to the closure of the Mohawk Institute<\/a> in 1971 but the last of those places of confinement was not shuttered until 1996 after 150,000 Native boys and girls had been forcibly removed from their homes in an attempt to eradicate their indigenous heritage and divorce them from their lands.

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Doug George-Kanentiio speaks on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on September 30, 2021. Photo: Mike Gifford<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nI concentrated on four points which were of greatest importance to our survivors. These were arrived at after listening to other survivors and why the Canadian federal governments official Truth and Reconciliation plans failed; the primary cause was the failure to hold the abusers accountable, the lack of direct consultation and the imposition of external rules and procedures alien to our needs.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPoint One was this: we need to throw off the shackles of victimization by taking direct control over all initiatives, events, expenditures coming from the residential school era. Nothing for us without us. I urged Native nations across Canada to create Survivor Secretariats, entities composed of survivors who will work in partnership with Native, provincial and federal governments to put in place ideas coming from us. The Secretariats will also take the leadership in locating the burial sites and repatriating the children to their respective homes. These groups will also advocate for universal pensions to be paid to every survivor, thereby giving them the security to take part in the healing activities.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPoint Two was the designation of all residential school sites as crime scenes to insure their protection and to apply the latest investigative techniques to locate the children and place them back with their living relatives. This will be a prolonged process but there can be no true peace until the children are brought home.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPoint Three was the prosecution of those found to be abusers. As I emphasized age is no defense, no cover, no excuse. There are many abusers yet living and as we have seen in Germany and elsewhere the need for justice demands accountability. To date, the survivors have had no chance at confronting the abusers or having them held liable for their actions. Also included in the application of criminal law must be the institutions which either knew of the abuses or were negligent in their oversight. These institutions must include any entity which contracted with the federal government to administer the schools and care for the children. Specific to my experience was the Anglican Church of Canada and, in other areas, the Roman Catholic Church which, to date, have paid a pittance in compensation and escaped prosecution altogether.\r\n

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