Lessons from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Posted By: Caroline Wawzonek

Antoine was mid-40s, tall and lean with shoulder length black hair. I met him in jail to prepare his sentencing for stealing lotto tickets from a corner store and many breaches of his release condition not to drink. He had never served federal time but had spent more than half of his past 20 years in provincial jail or on some form of court ordered restrictions. He was serving a life sentence for a life of petty crime. He was also articulate and insightful so I asked him why he was spending his life this way, "I was raised in an institution. An institution is all I really know." Both he, like his parents before him, spent their formative years as children in the confines of a Residential School.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) recently published 94 Calls to Action as part of its final report on the Indian Residential School legacy. They touch every aspect of Canadian life from sports and recreation (87-91) to health (18-24) to the corporate business sector (92). Two speak directly to lawyers, law schools and law societies, three call for equity for Aboriginal people in the legal system and 16 address the justice system generally. Many intersect with Canada's various legal regimes, such as child welfare laws, and legal commitments, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission observed in the Executive Summary to the Final Report that:

Too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots of these conflicts. This lack of historical knowledge has serious consequences for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples, and for Canada as a whole. In government circles, it makes for poor public policy decisions. In the public realm, it reinforces racist attitudes and fuels civic distrust between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians. Too many Canadians still do not know the history of Aboriginal peoples' contributions to Canada, or understand that by virtue of the historical and modern Treaties negotiated by our government, we are all Treaty people. (emphasis added) I spent my childhood in a middle class suburban home and attended a well-funded school that my parents chose for me. I learned about explorers opening up eastern Canada and pioneers taming the land in the west. I did not learn that simultaneous to these European-style ventures, Indian children were being rounded up and sent away from their parents...