Flags at all Federal buildings across the country are flying at half-mast. A government website that keeps track of these sorts of things says they will fly this way for the foreseeable future.
After the graves of 215 Indigenous children were discovered in Kamloops B.C. on May 27, thousands of flags were lowered and have stayed that way. Since then, four more sites have been “discovered” in Brandon, Man, Marieval, Sask, Cranbrook, B.C., Kuper Island, B.C. There are still 134 uninvestigated school sites.
Many have always known they were there, many of the survivors, of course, told us. We abused the Indigenous; we patronized them. We told them what to do and how to think. We tried to erase them from existence, and when that failed, we tried to erase who they were.
We never listened. Well, we are listening now.
Though for some of us, it is mostly theatre.
It is dangerous for a nation to dig up old things. History is often more of an idea within the cultural psyche than based on reality. Cultural myths draw a country together. The dirt, children’s clothes and adolescent bones are very real. Best not to dig up old things. Best not to question our myths.
It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that members of Indigenous communities across the country were the first to do the vital work of digging up the remains of the stolen. It would have never happened otherwise.
In the past, our leaders never wanted to give Indigenous people agency, control over the lives of their children and communities. We are only now, after so long, letting Indigenous communities govern themselves, educate themselves, and share themselves. Agency and autonomy for Indigenous communities are relatively new, and we still have far to go.
Our prime minister, premieres, city leaders have spoken the words suffering, trauma, pain, racism, but never crime, murder, criminals or justice. Everything is spoken in a past tense.
This should not be surprising, since two political parties have dominated Canadian politics for more than a century. It is during their governance that these crimes took place. There is no doubt that some of their esteemed members, though many are likely dead, had some role to play in the decimation of Indigenous children.
There is blood on the hands of Tories and Liberals alike. The Tories, the party of justice, has been surprisingly mute on that matter.
The first residential school opened in the 1880s and the last one closed in 1996. The institution, the apparatus of the residential school system, was created by leaders like Sir John A. McDonald and Egerton Ryerson, but it was administered by thousands of men and women. They were the hands of those in power. And as we know, “We were just following orders” isn’t a valid excuse.
Many of these men and women were saved by their own deaths and will never face a reckoning for their crimes. But there are still others alive now; there are survivors, witnesses. Now is the only opportunity we will ever have for justice.
There are records of every teacher, priest or nurse, yet there is no political appetite for an independent criminal inquiry spearheaded by the government. Instead, there are calls for mourning and reconciliation. Support for the traumatized. But how can there be reconciliation without justice?
Prime Minister Trudeau loves to talk, there is no doubt, but a pittance of funding here or there is all that comes out of that talk.
One estimate has the total cost of searching and excavating all of the graves sites at $1-billion. Not a peep from the government.
There have been calls for an independent criminal prosecutor by Indigenous leaders. Most recently, elected Six Nations Chief Mark Hill called for a criminal investigation of a residential school and wants police to collaborate on a multi-jurisdictional investigation.
In this regard, Trudeau said he is willing to support an investigation but said it is up to Indigenous communities to decide on how that would look. On the surface, it sounds like Trudeau is giving Indigenous communities agency over their communities and justice. Still, it’s hard not to think that this is just a cynical ploy to avoid government responsibility. He’s speaking the words of justice but doesn’t intend to do anything about it.
Some might call it political theatre.
Jorge Maria
