National Truth Commission Event Opens In Winnipeg
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 15:23
Hundreds of Indian residential school survivors, together with Aboriginal leaders, church groups, government representatives and members of the public gathered today in Winnipeg for the opening ceremonies of the first National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Former students and others whose lives have been impacted by the residential schools system have come together to share their experiences with the Commission at the four-day national event.
Included in those conversations are the voices of former staff and other school workers who have been contacted and encouraged to come forward.
The TRC was established as a result of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Its mandate is to inform all Canadians about what happened in the 150-year history of the residential schools, and guide and inspire a process of reconciliation and renewed relationships based on mutual understanding and respect.
Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the TRC, says: “There is an unmistakable, absolute truth experienced when the person across from you summons up immeasurable courage to tell you something they may have never told anyone.”
Commission officials say this national event is of great importance for non-Aboriginal Canadians who may have had nothing whatsoever to do with the schools directly, but who have everything to gain from understanding what actually happened at them.
In a release, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo says: “I commend all those who will tell their stories and all those who will listen in the spirit of respect and reconciliation, with the interest of forging a more fair and just Canada.”
This week’s gathering is the first of seven to be held across Canada within five years.