Conference hears pleas for reconciliation
by Tim Callaway

A conference co-sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations and the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law heard gripping testimony March 12-14 from two adult Canadian aboriginals representing thousands forced by Canadian law to attend residential schools administered by several of the country’s mainline religious denominations.

Residential Schools Legacy: Is Reconciliation Possible? attracted some three hundred participants who listened closely as Noel Knockwood and Sandy Maloney detailed their experiences as youngsters compelled to attend Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in New Brunswick.

Noel Knockwood

"I was five years old when a big, white station wagon came to our reservation and somebody took me away to the residential school," reported Maloney. "I’ll never forget the trauma of being disconnected from my family and all that was familiar to me as well as not being permitted to have contact with my siblings who were in the same school. It was like being incarcerated – our families didn’t count." Maloney referred to an announcement that the Honorable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, had cancelled his scheduled appearance at the conference due to a health crisis involving his mother. "I find it interesting that the minister could not be here today because of an important family matter," she said. "No one ever gave any consideration to our family matters. I grew up ashamed of being native." Knockwood, a M’ikmaq, told of being taken to the residential school by his father who tearfully informed him he would be arrested if he did not comply with the directive from the Canadian government requiring aboriginal parents to enroll their children there. Now a lawyer, Knockwood said he believes that what took place was cultural genocide.

"Our language, customs and beliefs were forcibly taken away," he noted, "and we were institutionalized in a foreign environment where we were told that our way of life was foolish. When my people were criticized for not having houses of worship, I tried to explain that the sky was our ceiling, the trees our walls, and the earth was the floor of our cathedral. I was laughed at by the teachers."

Knockwood recalled incidents where school chums were slapped and forced to eat rotten potatoes. "When I returned to the reservation after grade eight, I was functionally illiterate," he said. "I eventually turned to alcohol to help me cover the pain."

Forced by law to attend residential schools, numerous aboriginals endured years of what they now claim included physical, emotional and sexual abuse combined with overwork, harsh punishment, poor food and lack of nurturing.

The purpose of the conference was to examine the requirements of reconciliation and whether it can be achieved between the Government of Canada, the churches, and the First Nations People.

Many aboriginals object that the Alternative Dispute Resolution plan proposed by Canada is unacceptable to them because it’s designed by white lawyers and contains assumptions and proposals that completely ignore native thinking and culture.

"More than 50% of the residential schools were run by the Roman Catholic Church," reported respected native historian, George Erasmus. "The Anglican Church was in charge of about a quarter of them with the United and Presbyterian denominations overseeing the balance."

Rev. Bill Phipps, pastor at Calgary’s Scarboro United Church and former moderator of the United Church of Canada, spoke briefly on behalf of the churches involved.

He reminded the assembly that at the annual conference of the United Church at Sudbury in 1986, his denomination had formally apologized to aboriginals for its contribution to their sorrows.

"In our zeal, we were closed to the value of your spirituality," Phipps commented, "and aggressively imposed our values on you."

Phipps reiterated the 1986 apology, saying the United Church remains committed to the reconciliation process.