On Tuesday, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee turned its final page in alerting Canada to the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, and calling for action to heal the damage done through systemic assimilation.
The TRC committee was formed as the result of the Indian Residential School Agreement, which was a resolution to a class action lawsuit between survivors, numerous churches, and the federal government.
But looking back, before the three TRC commissioners delved into six and half years of research that followed their mandate, they spoke to survivors.
It was men like Saskatchewan’s Eugene Arcand who helped them understand the enormity of the abuse and deaths at Indian residential schools. Arcand attended St. Michael Indian Residential School in Duck Lake and Lebret Student Residence.
On Tuesday, he spoke to a crowd that included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a member of TRC’s Residential School Survivor Committee.
Arcand talked about the culture that was taken from him. He said his dress on Tuesday is meant to honour families who maintained their culture while kids were away at school.
“My son presented these hawk feathers to me. There was a day that a First Nation could never be caught in public wearing a cap like this, decorated with hawk feathers. That’s my call to action,” Arcand said, taking an emotional pause.
The process that led to Tuesday’s final report was a painful but healing one for Arcand, who joked about his journey with the 10-person advisory committee and the three commissioners: Justice Murray Sinclair, Dr. Marie Wilson, and Chief Wilton Littlechild.
There were few repercussions for anyone’s actions, “although I have to admit I’d like to have given Justice Sinclair a few bannock slaps,” he said to a room that erupted into laughter.
Arcand grew serious in a hurry.
“We shared our tears, we shared our laughs, but we dug deep inside and we dug out the demons. We couldn’t have done it without each other,” he said, acknowledging his family and friends back home as well.
The TRC ceremony showed deep respect to those who went through residential schools. Two seats were set aside to remember those children who didn’t make it out – that number is greater than 3,200.
Arcand says the troubling past of the nation’s children who went through the system can no longer be ignored.
“For Canada, you’ve been awakened. These three people have awakened this country and mother earth into the plight of indigenous people not only in this country but the similar issues that have happened around the world. No one can say, unless you live under a rock, or in a cave, that you don’t know about this anymore. Canada, this is your right of passage,” he said.
He says it’s not just on corporations, schools, or governments to listen to the calls for action – it’s a personal challenge to all Canadians.