As we returned to the study and discussion of the residential schools and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission this week in class, I found new insights into and information about the Indian Residential Schools that I wasn’t aware of last semester. Through the class visit to the Museum of Anthropology’s Speaking to Memory: Images and Voices from St. Michael’s Residential School exhibit, our further discussion into what we experienced and learned about the TRC, and my reading and analysis of Naomi Angel’s article “Before Truth: The Labors and Testimony of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” I learned of the resilience shown by many of the residential school children despite the horrors they were facing. Rather than portraying the children simply and only as victims of suffering, the exhibit and article showed a different aspect of the children’s lives: their bravery and perseverance through the bad hand they were dealt.

As Emily commented on my response to the MOA exhibit, associating a “victim” identity can “prolong the reconciliation process” because it continues to marginalize their identities and keep portraying them as colonized and oppressed people. It is certain that it is important to recognize the wrongs that were done to the aboriginal people by the Canadian government, but I believe that we must also see them more as survivors than victims. We also discussed in class how print versions of the apologies from the Canadian government, the RCMP, and churches involved in the residential schools which were given to the aboriginal people hung in the windows of the exhibit, not really doing anything, much like the actual apologies. The Canadian government apologized and promised forward movement, but then literally did nothing to enhance and restabilize the lives of the First Nations people. It was just an empty promise.

As class ended yesterday, discussion continued between Kenny, Makoto and I on how we, in the American public school system, were never educated about the lives of the Native American people other than to talk about how they were colonized and pushed to the West on the Trail of Tears. In the United States, it seems to be pretty common knowledge that Native Americans have higher rates of alcoholism, abuse, and addiction than those of non-Native descent, yet the US government has not done anything to help the Native people. Maria pointed out that in Alberta, there is a lot of education about the First Nations and it is a very important part of their curriculum, yet in the United States we barely even skim over the topic. In fact, I didn’t even know that there had been American Indian Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest until I decided to research it yesterday, and I doubt that many other Americans have knowledge of them. This needs to change.

I applaud the Canadian government and Canadian citizens for moving towards reconciliation between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. It is sure that there is still much to be done moving forward, but the education and discussion about what has happened is a step forward. At the same time, I am appalled by the United States government and educational system and the fact that they hide this part of the nation’s collective history and brush its current effects under the rug. I hope one day they will be able to move towards reconciliation as Canada has, although I find that highly doubtful.