Canada's Confession and Challenge

It would astonish no one if the public apology delivered by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the aboriginal children was found unimpressive by his target recipients. For how can one relate to a confession when no recollection of the sin that deprived them the soul of their beings exists? What connection could the apology possibly make if the emotions that bind them to their past have been methodically and brutally erased? How can words, consoling as they may be, resurrect the death of an inner spirit of life long replaced by an overpowering emptiness?

In making the apology on behalf of his country, PM Harper acknowledges one of the most disgraceful periods in its history, where the policy of fostering aboriginal autonomy was replaced by aboriginal assimilation into mainstream Canadian society. By providing state funding in 1874 to schools run by missionaries, the policy used the extension work of the Churches in education to carry out the assimilation program. It was an unfeeling policy wrapped in a convoluted sense of charity, founded on racial discrimination, social inferiority, and human inequality. Between the 19th century till the 1970's 150,000 aboriginal children were taken from their homes and forced into residential schools where they were treated to a daily dose of physical, verbal, psychological and sexual abuse; aside from starvation and cultural, spiritual, familial and community deprivation.

The goal was to Christianise the aboriginal children by erasing all traces of their aboriginal links, with the objective that in 2 generations, the system would end the Indian problem. There were boasts that the system "would kill the Indian in the child". The "child" after several years of "study," recognized a difference with the white teachers but could not express what it was, since the concepts that made the distinctions were obliterated. The aboriginal children knew the treatment they received was unacceptable but were powerless to oppose. They saw the anger, hatred, cruelty, disdain and malice their teachers had for them, and experienced all the violations towards their persons; and discerned that they could never be accepted as equals by these "mentors". They left the schools no longer Indians, but neither were they Canadians. They were unacceptable to the whites, yet unrecognizable to their tribes. They became displaced entities, with no past, no future, and no soul.

Their offspring as well as their grandchildren have not learned about their culture since they could not teach what they couldn't remember, even their own language. The apology comes with a package of settlements but the damage cannot be priced. The Churches have apologized for their role since the 1980's through the 1990's, and the government has admitted its profound failure in protecting them. But the challenge to Canada is to create a conscious awareness of the history of the aboriginal people among its citizens, and to reverse the general attitude of indifference regarding this event. More importantly, it should strengthen its relationship with the aborigines that is currently overwhelmed by mistrust and misunderstanding. The apology is an essential first step, but the long process of healing may take two generations to transpire.

The aboriginals have been in Canada for 30,000 years. With this first step and another 200 years, perhaps they can find their spirits and reunite with their souls.

Haaarrrrwwwwwk...Twooooooooph...Ting!