10 named to residential school 'survivor' group
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 8:26 PM ET
CBC News
Ten former students of Canada's notorious Indian residential schools have been appointed as advisers to the federal government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as it prepares to begin hearing from ex-students across the country.
Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl unveiled the Indian Residential School Survivor Committee on Wednesday in Ottawa.
It will provide "advice and guidance" to the commission, as well as help it gather former students' stories about the residential school experience, Strahl said in a release.
Members of the advisory group, made up of seven First Nations members, two Inuit and one Métis, are:
- Barney Williams Jr., an elder from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations in Meares Island, B.C.
- Doris Young, an educator originally from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas, Man.
- Eugene Arcand of the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan.
- Gordon Williams, a member of the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba.
- John Banksland, an Inuit elder living in Inuvik, N.W.T.
- John Morrisseau, a Métis leader from Grand Rapids, Man.
- Lottie May Johnson, a Mi'kmaw healer from Eskasoni, N.S.
- Raymond Arcand, former chief of the Alexander First Nation in Alberta.
- Rebekah Uqi Williams, an Inuk and former Nunavut politician living in Iqaluit.
- Terri Brown, former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.
Appointments mean 'a lot to Inuit'
Committee member Rebekah Williams said Wednesday that Inuit residential school survivors have official support from the truth commission. (CBC)The appointments of Banksland and Williams come after Inuit leaders criticized the federal government for not appointing any Inuit to the three-person truth commission, led by Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair.
Williams told CBC News that while no Inuk was appointed to the commission itself, it's notable that Inuit will now provide official support, providing a better understanding of Inuit who attended residential schools.
"I think it means a lot to Inuit," Williams, who spent four years at the Churchill Vocational Centre in Churchill, Man., said Wednesday.
"It could have been anybody who went to residential school who's experienced that being away from home for a very long time to go to school."
Banksland, who spent 11 years at the Immaculate Conception Residential School in Aklavik, N.W.T., said he would like to see the commission tour more than just major centres when it starts holding hearings.
"The ideal situation would have been that the commission goes to every small community and big community in the North," Banksland said.
"There's survivors in every community in the Arctic pretty well, and I don't know if that's going to be a realistic expectation, you know?"
Give survivors opportunity to share experiences
About 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend government-funded residential schools over much of the last century, often suffering abuse in the push for assimilation.
The last school closed outside Regina in 1996. About 85,000 former students are still living.
The truth commission was set up to give ex-students an opportunity to share their individual experiences in a safe and culturally appropriate manner, as well as establish a historical account of the residential schools system.
It was created as a result of the court-approved Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that was negotiated in 2006 between former students, churches, the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal organizations.
The commission is expected to finish its work by 2014.
