Jim Miller’s new book Residential Schools and Reconciliation. Photo by Joel Willick.
A Saskatchewan author hopes his new book will break down what he says are the biggest obstacles to reconciliation.
Retired University of Saskatchewan Professor Jim Miller officially launched his book Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts Its History. Several people gathered at a launch party at the university Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the book’s release.
Miller says the book aims to address Canadian’s inability to overcome their flawed and overly positive understanding of their own history.
“I think until Canadians understand properly what that history was all about they won’t buy into the necessity to make amends and join the reconciliation movement,” he said. “To a great extent the federal government was responsible for most of the harm and in a democracy like this all voters are responsible for what the government does.”
Miller is an award-winning author and has penned books on both residential schools and treaties. He says he was motivated to write these books after asking himself the question “why don’t we get along?”
“It was really an effort to understand the answer to that question that led me to doing research on the history of Native-newcomer relations,” he said. “I did a book on residential schools and another on treaties and this book is a culmination of that question of ‘why don’t we get along?’”
Miller hopes this latest book will persuade people to gain a better knowledge of the residential school system and broader ideas around native-newcomer relations.
“I hope they acquire a sound understanding of the problems and how they came into existence,” he said. “If I can reach a few people and they can tell a few people I think (the book) will have done its work.”
While the retired professor admits he isn’t currently working on any new projects he joked he is open to ideas.