Facing the past
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Chisasibi airs a painful chapter of Cree history
In the lead-up to its four-day Quebec National Event in Montreal at the end of April, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) held the last of its four Quebec regional events in Chisasibi on March 19-20.
Following hearings in Sept-Îles, Val-d’Or and La Tuque, the Chisasibi TRC hearings offered an opportunity for local survivors of the Indian residential school (IRS) system to share their experiences either publicly or to have them recorded in private.
The community of Chisasibi, at the time it was located at Fort George, had two Indian residential schools, both of which opened in the mid-1930s – Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jesus, run by the Roman Catholic Church, and St. Phillip’s, run by the Anglican Church (the only Anglican residential school in Quebec).
Chisasibi’s Eddie Rupert is the Residential Schools Coordinator for the Grand Council of the Crees and a member of the Special Committee that is organizing the national event in Montreal. He says he suggested holding a commission hearing in Chisasibi because of the two schools that were located there.
Rupert explained that students at St. Phillip’s came mainly from the coastal Cree communities, while students at Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jesus came largely from other communities, including Moose Factory, Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Pointe-Bleu. According to TRC documents, both schools were seriously overcrowded by the 1950s, suffering from shortages of food and fresh water.
Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jesus was transferred to the provincial school board in 1971; St. Phillip’s was taken over by the federal government in 1969 and turned into a residence for students from other communities attending local schools. By 1973, its staff was entirely composed of Aboriginal people. Both schools were closed by the end of the 1970s.
Larry House, the local coordinator for the Chisasibi hearing, said it was long overdue. “The leadership needs to make it a priority to address the social issues. [Aboriginal people] still top the list of all the wrong stats. Right now we’re the majority incarcerated in prisons and we’ve got the highest number of kids in state care. Obviously something is amiss. I connect it to the history of colonialism and residential schools is a big part of that.”
Overall, said Rupert, the hearings went well, “We did have people who made the decision to go to the commissioner and tell their stories,” he said. “We also had private rooms available and some people decided to take that approach. The main room was for the public – people were invited to attend and listen to the stories.”
Rupert’s only complaint was that fewer people came than he expected.
“I was hoping to have students coming in from the Cree communities who’d attended those two schools. There were not as many as I had hoped or expected. I know in some of the other hearings – in La Tuque, for example, the commissioner said they had about 80 people [making statements]. I’m not sure we had that many. The hearings did go very well, with those who volunteered to tell their stories. The overall message was that it was time to reconcile and forgive.
“In the beginning it was really slow,” House noted. “I had to register to make a statement. I wanted to, because there was about 900 pounds of religion on one side of the room, there – two bishops and the minister from Great Whale. That’s kind of an intimidating setting when you’re sitting in the room. I spoke about organized religion and the problems I see there. I said, I had never been to residential school, but that’s not to say I haven’t been affected.”
House downplayed the importance of his own comments, but Rupert praised him for speaking about the effects of residential schooling on the generations that followed.
“Unfortunately both of his parents are passed on now,” Rupert said. “But they both went through the system, and he talked about how residential schooling affects the children [of survivors]. It was very good that someone spoke about those intergenerational effects.”
House would rather focus on the survivors who came out to share their stories.
“A lot of people were speaking out for the first time,” he said. “Toward the end, more and more people came out, and a lot of private video statements were made. If we had kept going for another two days, it would have taken off.”
Still, House said he regrets not having gotten word about the hearings out to a wider audience. “I became involved and early on I hadn’t realized it was a regional event. I could have done more public notice regionally. The two schools [in Chisasibi], a lot of the students came from the southern neighbouring communities. But I have a feeling that everybody was aware.”
Rupert, however, said he thought that the lower attendance at the Chisasibi hearings had nothing to do with any lack of publicity.
“They knew months ahead, and they even sent last-minute reminders,” he said. “Maybe [survivors from those communities] are not ready, maybe they’re waiting for the event in Montreal. They even have the option, after all the hearings are concluded, of sending in their stories to the research centre. It doesn’t stop here. They can send in their stories any time they want – those who weren’t quite ready for it. Some people would rather not talk about it and go about their lives. Some people say, ‘It happened, so it happened. So why talk about it?’”
The national hearings in Montreal will be different, House agreed. “There’ll be more people [from Eeyou Istchee]. People are just more comfortable sharing outside of their communities.”
The important thing, he said, is that people are talking – both survivors and their children and grandchildren.
“Initially,” House said, “I had a hard time thinking about it, because when I first met with the students, I said, ‘Personally I’d feel robbed if none of the people who represented the government and the churches were sitting at the head table, if it’s going to be only our people listening to our stories.’ I’m prone to taking shots at the government and the churches now and then. One of my friends who had been to residential schools said, ‘Why don’t you think about like this: never mind what the government and the churches did. Think about what needs to be expressed here, what has been suppressed for years: the unresolved grief. The energy that needs to be vented – it’s like a pressure cooker.’ I said, ‘You know what, you’re right, that’s what needs to happen.’”
House continued, “But it needs to be consistent. We need to have organizations – political organizations and the political will. The chief needs to be there and needs to support this. You can have all the economic development and agreements you want, but if you have sick people who practice the behaviours and traits of generations of being colonized, the internalized oppression, the internalized violence that takes place, nothing’s going to work. We need to address those issues on a personal level.”
Beyond the speaking of truth, the other half of the journey of the TRC hearings lies in coming to terms with reality of the stories shared by survivors.
With a dark laugh, House acknowledged he must work more on his own “reconciliation” part of this exercise, acknowledging his persistent anger. “After we finished, a lot of people were talking about a continuation into a community healing gathering. I said I’d help advocate for one.”
Rupert says every part of the TRC process contributes to healing. “Some people [who attended IRS] didn’t have bad experiences, but ones who did, talking about abuse – they probably had a lot more to say about the matter than those who didn’t go through that. Most of the stories I hear are from survivors who had bad experiences. Those people need to tell their stories as a part of their healing. They have to get it out, to release whatever it is they’re carrying, and they find it through these hearings. Telling their stories makes them feel better.”
The hearings will continue April 24-27 in Montreal at the TRC’s national event at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Admission is free and all are invited to attend; the event will include statement collection, traditional ceremonies, survivor gatherings, an education day, films and cultural performances.
