When our Global Citizens group walked around the Vancouver Public Library towards the Queen Elizabeth stage on Sunday morning, a feeling of awe struck me. Despite the cold and rainy conditions, an estimated tens of thousands of survivors and witnesses had come to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Walk for Reconciliation downtown. It was as I looked over the sea of umbrellas toward the stage that the grandeur and importance of this walk hit me. All of these citizens were coming together to begin looking forward towards a better future for all Canadians.
The most moving and influential part of the opening ceremonies was easily the speech by Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. She spoke of oppression, hatred, and injustice felt not only by the Aboriginal people of Canada, but also by African Americans. The influence of her parents on herself, on America, and on the world was also talked about, and Dr. King encouraged all Canadians to do what her late father had mandated of American citizens: to utilize the weapon of your mind, your soul, and your spirit to enact social change. One of Dr. King’s most powerful statement was “the way forward in Canada and through this world is gonna be through choosing nonviolence… The choice today is no longer between nonviolence or violence. It is between nonviolence or nonexistence.” Violence has long been used as a form of oppression and still is today in many countries. We cannot let it happen in this one.
The Indigenous Foundations of UBC reported on the residential schools and their influence on how Aboriginal families live today, saying that they disrupted the life of indigenous people all across Canada and ripped families apart. The Manitoba Justice Institute concluded that residential schools paved the path for the violence that occurs today against Aboriginal women and children, since whole generations of Aboriginal children grew up without a nurturing family life. The lack of knowledge about parenting and of the knowledge of abuse, many parents turn to abuse against their children and family members. The cycle of domestic violence in Aboriginal homes has been hard to break.
Abuse by Aboriginal people has not only been inflicted on others, but on themselves as well. The Indigenous Foundations of UBC report that many people have argued that because of the feeling of worthlessness instilled in the children of residential schools, there is a strong lack of self-esteem in Aboriginal people which in turn leads to self-abuse and high rates in alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide. This unfortunate turn of events can be attributed to the terrors that happened to generations of Indigenous children.
It is clear that the residential schools had an immense negative impact on the Aboriginal people of Canada, stripping them of their identity and causing conflicts that are still apparent in their lives today. As I stood in the pouring rain on Sunday with survivors, families of survivors, and other witnesses around me, I overheard someone say, “It’s perfect weather for this walk. Metaphorically, it’s perfect.” Although I was at first confused, it became clear to me by the end of the walk, after seeing many Aboriginal people smiling and cheering at the sight of everyone supporting reconciliation, that he was right. It has been metaphorically been raining on the Aboriginal people for over a century, and it is now time to reconciliate and to create a new society that acknowledges all people as equal.