As an international student coming from Maine in the United States, I never really learned about Canadian history. When we learned about Maine history, we briefly talked about the French and British dispute over the Maine/Canada border, but never really learned about the Canadian side of the argument. I feel as if this contributes to the stereotype of Americans being ignorant. My Canadian friends all know about slavery, and many other details of American history, but I know almost nothing about the history of the country I am currently living in.
When I learned about the residential schools in Canada, I was astonished that I had never heard of it before. It seems like such an important part of world history, and especially North American history. I felt it was my obligation as a global citizen to educate myself about what happened at the residential schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission event in Vancouver was a great opportunity for me to learn more about this tragic part of Canada’s history. I initially went to the Belkin Gallery’s ‘Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools’ just to gather some information for my assignments, but I ended up staying much longer than I expected after seeing the heart-wrenching first hand accounts of the residential schools.
While every piece in the gallery was touching in its own way, my favorites were the works by Gina Laing. They each depicted her experiences as a child at a residential school. She drew the events as she remembered them in her head, so many of them are abstract and exaggerated. They were presented in a series of four pieces each, with separate explanations for each of their meanings. She often featured eyes in her paintings as she “felt [she] was always being watched”. The abuse that she went through at the residential school is unimaginable and disgusting. The most disgusting part was that it was not a one-time occurrence, but rather a “normal” thing that happened all the time. She constantly went through mental, physical, and sexual abuse while she attended the school.
What touched me the most about Laing’s paintings was her willingness to share those dark, personal stories. It is impossible to forget that kind of torture, and most people who go through that would never want to talk about it ever again. But Laing told her story, through paintings and explanations, to inform the greater public about what really happened at these residential schools. Her story is one of many, and she has provided a great example of why these schools were an enormous tragedy. To quote Laing from the ‘Witnesses’ catalogue, she is showing these pieces “because I want people to understand what happened to me, and to witness my story through my art.”
The fact that innocent children went through this kind of torture at residential schools disgusts me. It disgusts me that white people thought they were superior to aboriginal people, that they forcibly took children from their families to “educate” them, and that this went on for 150 years. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission events held throughout Vancouver over the past week have helped inform myself and every other person who participated about how the aboriginal people have suffered so much. Gina Laing’s bravery helped open the nation’s eyes, and we can now see first-hand how residential schools have ruined lives and destroyed communities. It is now our duty as global citizens to never forget what happened in the past, and work towards creating a better and more equal future.