Article 1: Working on Truth & Reconciliation at University College of the North

Jennie Wastesicoot

Figure 1 Jennie is working on the paintings.

Since Canada and Indigenous people began working on reconciliation, a lot of good work has taken place bringing people together but at the same time bringing division and discomfort between Indigenous people as more and more truth is revealed about the things that happened at the residential schools. This was evident at the first national truth and reconciliation gathering held in Winnipeg 2010: “there was palpable discomfort among Indigenous people concerning the presence of clergy and the use of Christian discourse in the TRCC’s proceedings” (Bradford and Horton 2016, p. 152). The operation of the residential schools administered by the major denominations included the Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican churches (Lorimer, 2015, p.3). Most recently, the matter of Christian faith has been in question as many Indigenous people are turning their backs on their churches saying that they will never return to that place of worship because the church had brought so much harm to Indigenous children. The unmarked graves found at the grounds of now abandoned residential schools have brought shock waves across Canada, as concerned people are demanding attention to the truth about the residential schools[1]. As more unmarked graves are being found, more anger is being expressed by survivors who feel that those responsible for the harm caused by these schools should be held accountable for the harm. However, there are people who believe they are not responsible for what happened in the past as they were not the ones who caused the harm. “Some may think that courts, churches, and governments should not impose responsibilities on Canadians more generally to remedy residential school harms because what happened at these schools is not the fault of most Canadians living today……the majority of present and future citizens and parishioners had nothing to do with their design and operation” (Borrows 2019, p. 229). Thus, how to bring truth and reconciliation to our students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, is very challenging for instructors who teach courses on Indigenous issues.

The first and the foremost is to let our students know why and how residential schools started with Indigenous people and how Indigenous people see residential schools. Indigenous people believe that what happened at the residential schools is the result of colonialism led by the forefathers of the settlers who came to this country bringing their ideologies, political and social regulations with them. But how could Indigenous children become victims of their ideologies? Albert Memmi in his work on The Colonizer and the Colonized explains:

Colonialism denies human rights to human beings whom it has subdued by violence, keeps them by force in a state of misery and ignorance…. [r]acism is engrained in actions, institutions, and in the nature of the colonialist methods of production and exchange. Political and social regulations reinforce one another. Since the Native is subhuman, the Declaration of Human Rights does not apply to him; inversely, since he has no rights, he is abandoned without projection to inhuman forces- brought in with the colonist praxis, engendered every moment by the colonist apparatus, and sustained by relations of production that defines two sorts of individuals-one whom privilege and humanity are one, who becomes human being through exercising his rights; and the other, for whom denial of rights sanctions misery, chronic hunger, ignorance, or in general “subhumanity”. (Memmi 1991, p. xxiv)

The impacts of colonial power, its legacy, and the role it played in residential schools is no longer acceptable. Indigenous people are calling out for the truth–what was done to Indigenous children back then–and reconciliation, that is, how to decolonize the legacy and how to heal the residential school survivors and their families from the traumas they have experienced up till the present. As an instructor, I feel I am obligated to share and confront their historical traumas with our students and to inform them about what happened in residential schools. Only by revealing the truth of residential schools, the impacts of residential school system upon Indigenous people, the harm and trauma, could we start the healing process. Of course, healing will require working on forgiveness, but working on forgiveness will take time and effort as this may mean talking and sharing the trauma with others and even confronting those who had caused harm. This is the task that instructors at the University College of the North (UCN) have taken upon themselves to help facilitate a process where survivors can come together to share their stories.

Sharing those stories is a painful process for both residential school survivors and students, as most of UCN students are decedents of residential school survivors and some of them are still suffering from intergenerational traumas. However, sharing those stories also help us, Indigenous people, restore our spirituality and cleanse our souls because “restoring spirituality and cleansing one’s soul are essential to the healing process for everyone involved in a conflict” (Bradford and Horton 2016, p. 109). Resolving issues in the communities, Indigenous people conducted their own methods and restorative practices to deal with human dysfunctions bringing balance and harmony back to communities; therefore, as Borrows (2019) adds, “spirituality cannot be jettisoned as a legal resource for dealing with human dysfunction” (p. 212). The healing of spirit is vital to healing the survivors because the neglect and abuse of Indigenous children at residential schools greatly impacted the spirit of children who came out of these institutions not knowing their culture, language and spirituality. The survivors returned to their homes broken physically and emotionally and often as strangers as they were no longer able to communicate with their parents, who also suffered disruptions from forced relocations, lands seizures and movement restrictions. The greatest impact was on families who were no longer able to transfer their cultural knowledge and practices as their “[s]piritual leaders [were] prosecuted, spiritual practices [were] forbidden, and objects of spiritual value [were] confiscated and destroyed” (Lorimer, 2015, p. 1).

Moving forward in reconciliation, UCN has taken steps to provide support to those who have attended UCN’s Truth and Reconciliation annual gatherings since 2017 (UCN staff and students usually attend this annual gathering). The discussions at the gathering always center on finding pathways to reconciliation. Each year, the event organizers choose a theme; one of such themes was titled “Sharing Our Truth and Knowledge is Changing Academia,” which shed light on teaching and research in UCN. At the end of each gathering, an evaluation survey is conducted to get feedback and recommendations from the participants. The aim of the evaluations is to provide information to the UCN TRC Committee on the work UCN has done for the year including strengths and weaknesses so that the TRC committee will make improvements. The followings are some of the recommendations collected at the UCN 3^rd Annual Gathering on March 22, 2019:

We need truth! We are not anywhere near being able to reconcile yet.
We are impacted, we are angry; we are angry now both because it was never taught but also because it is a tragic history
I am white, it makes me angry when I hear people’s racist comments. I am going to speak up now and remind them they need to know the truth.
The truth has to be heard before reconciliation is dealt with. Most people need to acknowledge the history of what happened to indigenous people.
We even don’t know the history we need to talk about it within our own communities.
Have UCN TRCC student body doing the work and resource them.
As a table of colonizers, your stories, experiences, resources and presentations have inspired our decolonization and truth efforts that we will take to our classroom, schools and school divisions.
We live it, both as Indigenous and non-Indigenous friends. We are in this together.

The recommendations we collected at each gathering varied. However, when participants were asked what actions UCN should take regarding reconciliation and how it sees this taking place, the response was that UCN make the TRCC mandatory for students who are in social work, nursing and teaching since they will end up working in Indigenous communities. Armed with the knowledge and truth about colonialism and the residential school system, UCN graduates will work better for Indigenous people. Thus, completion of certain courses with Indigenous content is required as part of their degree programmes. At each annual gathering, participants not only include students and staff, but also extends to the public. The UCN TRC process continues to work on recovering the truth, healing from the impacts of colonialism, and restoring Indigenous languages and cultures.

In response to some of the recommendation collected during the gatherings, I decided to deliver and teach a selected topic course in 2019, and I chose to teach about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRCC), using their work from the Final Report Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume One: Summary, Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future. Given that the focus of the course was on truth and reconciliation, I asked the students to explain their understanding of the TRCC process and how northern Indigenous people have been working to address and amend the historical and ongoing damages caused by the residential school system. As the TRCC involved truth telling, I asked the students how Indigenous people could begin working together on “truth telling” to confront and address the negative behavior of their own people who were impacted by residential school, particularly behaviours that disrupt family and community stability. I also asked them what they found interesting in the required readings, how they felt about the truth as revealed in the readings, and what was going through their minds as they were writing their summary report. Finally, what suggestions they would give to improve the TRCC process. During the course, students were also provided an opportunity to study, analyze, and critique the summary findings contained in the Commission’s final report. In class, we discussed the initiatives, processes and action taken to address the past and to move forward with truth and reconciliation. Throughout the course, consideration was given to the experiences of Indigenous and northern people of Manitoba, and Canada. Many of the students who took the course stated that they only began learning about the TRCC’s recommendations when they started attending the UCN TRCC conference. Feedback from one student in the course assignment stated, “I strongly believe education is key and that everyone should be able to continue to look further and …. take the steps with community-based programs to support language revitalization across the province. As a post secondary student, I have learned a lot so far and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Another student wrote: “Throughout the history section of the text, I found the process of how the residential school became to exist interesting. The treaty between the Indigenous and Europeans was meant to provide an education to earn their own living through farming. However, that was not the case, the residential school’s main purpose was to remove the Indigenous culture out of the children and to force religious beliefs upon them. While reading I felt anger build up because the treaty agreement was not upheld from the Europeans society. They had cheated the Indigenous peoples and basically took advantage of them because they were not equally able to understand the whole treaty agreement as the Europeans.”

As an Instructor, I had to be aware all the time and be mindful that the emotions of student would be triggered as many of them knew relatives that attended residential schools. As a residential school survivor, myself, I have worked through my own trauma; therefore, I shared my own experiences on how I dealt with my own emotions by working with Elders who provided counselling. I would often attend ceremonies such as the sweat lodge, sun-dance and pipe ceremonies. I explain to the students that these ceremonies were a way of life for Indigenous people before colonization. I talked about the seven sacred teachings in class, which reflects UCN mission statement. I remind students that UCN elders are available to them through the Ma-ma-we-che-to-tan Centre and the Ininiwi Kiskinwamakewin Centre, where students are offered support and counselling as needed. Such support and counselling are available for UCN students, whether studying at the main campuses or at the regional access centres.

Learning for their first time in details what happened at the residential schools was a hard topic to discuss for many of our students; however, they try to express their feelings in their writings. This is how one of the students responded to the required readings:

I admit this book was a hard read. I learned so much more, but it is always a hard subject to read and talk about. The beginning section of the material was heavy to read because it reflected back on the survivors’ truth. As I read the history section of the textbook, I was emotional. I was sad about the history of residential schools each time I hear stories or learn more about it. I was also emotional as I read on because I see how strong our people are and how far they have come from those days. I am proud of those before us who stood up for our rights and made calls to action because without them, I would not be where I am today. As hard as it was to read this and as hard as it is to learn about this, it is the truth of our people, and we must work together and support one another. After all, the survivors are telling their truths as their way of standing up for themselves and others because they could not do it before. That makes me so proud of them that it makes me full of emotion. (an excerpt from students’ assignments)

For healing to take place, it is important to keep talking about and sharing the stories about residential schools; but, it is more importantly to create a safe place for the survivors to grieve what happened to them at the residential schools. Denying them this right is withholding the truth from them, their families and society. As one of the students pointed out in her understanding of the TRCC process:

My own understanding of the process of the Truth and Reconciliation is that it has been a learning moment for me. I thought I had a full understanding, but once I read this section of the textbook, I realized there is a lot more to it than I thought. My initial understanding of the Truth and Reconciliation was the commission that was set up to help Indigenous peoples heal from the historical trauma and abuse that they experienced during the residential school period. My understanding was that the people were given a voice to speak of their experiences. I understood that it was the government’s responsibility to make sure those affected had the help necessary to heal from the past so that future generations can grow and not have to live those same traumas again. Sometimes, through compensation, whereby some people were given money based on their experience with residential school. Growing up, I was always hearing and learning of this horrific past that so many Indigenous people lived over the years. I felt I had understood what the basis of this Truth and Reconciliation commission was; I did not realize that there was and will always be more to learn with this matter. I now understand that the Truth and Reconciliation is about honouring the truth and reconciling for the future. It is about honouring the truth no matter how hard it is to hear or deal with (an excerpt from students’ assignments).

The work ahead to confront the harms and to address the past colonial actions of European settlers upon the Indigenous people will only work if both Indigenous survivors and non-indigenous people work together. Here is an account from a non-Indigenous student in my special topic course:

I never really learned about the residential schools until I came to university. And amazing as it sounds, learning about the past of Indigenous peoples and their stories gives me the wisdom of why we are the way we are. Indigenous people’s storytelling and experiences has exposed the truth of understanding of why Aboriginal peoples need truth and reconciliation for the future. Students should learn about the truth and be able to reconcile the past and to work together with non-indigenous people (an excerpt from students’ assignments).

At the UCN TRCC 2020 gathering, one recommendation really stuck out from a participant: “Reconciliation is not easy, its hard work, there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to educate people and healing will always be a journey. Reconciliation means talking about the really challenging conversations” (UCN TRCC conference report, March 3 and 4, 2020).

Teaching about the TRCC and its mission is important, and it shows that society is making efforts to reconcile with what happened at the residential schools. It is important to share stories from the residential school survivors as well as their families, their children and grandchildren so that people will understand why some people are struggling today and why some cannot get over what happened to them. This is the only way that forgiveness can happen, survivors may never forget but they must learn to forgive. Also, reconciliation will only happen when trust is regained and to regain trust is to keep talking and sharing those horrible stories. Our students write from their own experiences in their papers:

Telling the truth about the history of residential schools is a part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In order to help move forward and help deal with intergeneration trauma, the truth needs to be told. In order to help with truth-telling, Indigenous people must work together and continue to support the survivors who can and will tell their truth. We must help and support one another in order to prevent this type of thing from happening again within our own communities and families (an excerpt from students’ assignments).

In 2008, when the federal government finally apologized to residential school survivors and their families, it was this apology that let survivors know that the government had finally admitted their role and is now supporting work to restore the Indigenous cultural and language loss. The apology gave the survivors their voices so that they started talking about the abuses they suffered as they shared their stories when they began filing their residential school compensation claim. Filing their compensation claim provided former students an incentive to discuss and document their residential school experiences. This presented opportunities to have their stories archived at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation where survivors, their families, and others are invited to store their stories so that they will continue to share their truths and experiences at this centre. “By sharing [their] experiences, [they] create a place of learning, dialogue, and understanding, where the collective and individual truths of Survivors and others impacted by residential schools are honoured and protected to advance reconciliation” (NCTR nd).

Today at UCN, approximately 70 percent of students represent Indigenous nations, and UCN’s main campuses are located in a geographical area where there are also a high Indigenous population. UCN has taken a proactive action by taking specific and particular attention to serving the needs of Indigenous students and northern communities that have been impacted by the residential schools. The UCN Truth and Reconciliation Committee has done a lot to promote awareness of the TRCC Calls to Actions and to involve faculty departments to share what they are doing with their respective programs and share how they are meeting the TRCC Calls to Action. The Faculty of Arts, Business and Science through its Aboriginal and Northern Studies program has done its share of work to advance Indigenous knowledge and to bring awareness and to help students have a better understanding of the history and the impact which residential schools had on Indigenous people. As part of the commitment and support of education that will further shed light on the past and the path to move forward in reconciliation, UCN has approved to be delivered, a course on the Truth and Reconciliation. I helped to develop this course using the experience I have amassed when I taught the first TRCC course in 2019.

The first TRCC course evaluation offers positive feedback from students who not only appreciated me as their instructor, but also appreciated the opportunity of this kind of education. Two examples from the evaluations have witnessed my teaching of this course:

Jennie has been very supportive throughout this course. I would highly recommend this course to a student in the future. Thank you for your guidance and support. I enjoyed taking this course.

I enjoyed having Jennie as my instructor, as she is really good with explaining the course material and it allows me to have a clear understanding of the issues that are discussed in class. I would recommend this course to my peers. I really hope this course is taught in the future. (excerpts from course evaluations).

Both students’ understanding of the TRCC process and feedback of the course I offered have given me immense pride in myself who is working towards the TRCC process, and in UCN, which has done a lot to support this work and the TRCC process. Knowing that as an instructor, I am helping and having positive influence with students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to understand the truth about residential schools, to help with healing and reconciliation which is necessary to help to rebuild our families, communities and to strengthen our relationship with society. I believe that the more courses with Indigenous contents that are offered and taught in secondary and post-secondary institutions, the closer we will get in our quest for truth and reconciliation.

References

Borrows, John. (2019). Laws Indigenous Ethics. University of Toronto Press, Toronto Buffalo London

Bradford, T., & Horton, C. (2016). Mixed Blessings: Indigenous Encounters with Christianity in Canada. UBC Press.

Dzsurdzsa, Cosmin. (2021). “Update: A Map of the 68 churches that have been vandalized or burned since the residential schools announcement.” True North. https://tnc.news/2021/08/23/a-map-of-every-church-burnt-or-vandalized-since-the- residential-school-announcements/

Lorimer, James & Company Ltd., Publishers. (2015). Final Report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Volume One: Summary, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada

Memmi, Albert (1991). The Colonizer and The Colonized. Beacon Press, Boston

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation “Preserve Your Records.” https://nctr.ca/records/preserve-your-records/

Author’s Notes:

Excerpts from student assignments are anonymous upon students’ requests. All student assignments are stored under “Selected Topics in Aboriginal and Northern Studies: Truth and Reconciliation” on the course website through UCNLearn, May 1 – June 7, 2019.
UCN Course Evaluation are accessible only to the individual instructor. I received the course evaluation of ANS.3900 after my teaching.
UCN TRCC 3^rd Annual conference report, 2019 and UCN TRCC 4^th Annual conference report, 2020 are UCN’s internal documents.

Author’s Bio: Jennie Wastesicoot received her PhD from the University of Manitoba in 2015. Her study focus is spirituality and law as they relate to First Nations governance. Jennie completed her Master of Arts Degree at the University of Manitoba in 2004 with a focus on a cultural framework for Cree self-government and obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brandon University in 1985 with a major in Native Studies and minors in Anthropology and Religion. Jennie teaches at the University College of the North on the topics of community healing, restorative justice and conflict resolution, philosophy and culture, colonial encounters, Aboriginal Northern Women and Aboriginal and Northern studies 1000 and 1002. She taught a selected topic course focusing on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission work on residential schools. This encouraged her to develop a course on “Studies in Truth and Reconciliation” and she will be teaching this course this coming fall 2022.

Jennie is a member of the York Factory First Nation. She is originally from the Chemawawin Cree Nation. Jennie is a mother of two children and grandmother of nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She has resided in Thompson, Manitoba since 1985.

[1] The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRRSA) provides the most comprehensive listing of Canadian residential schools for Aboriginal people. The settlement Agreement listed 130 residential schools and residences. For complete listing see pages 351 to 363 in Final Report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Volume One: Summary, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future (Lorimer & Company Ltd Publishers 2015., Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada).

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