Yellowknife (Oct 01/03) - An exhibit addressing the legacy of residential schools opened in Yellowknife Saturday.

The exhibit, titled Where are the Children?, opened in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly, and was designed to assist students, survivors and victims of residential schools in dealing with the memories, and offers them a chance to begin their healing process.

"These pictures deal with a past," said Premier Stephen Kakfwi. "We need to look at them so we can deal with the future."

Kakfwi spent seven years in a residential school, and explained at the opening that this is a history of aboriginal peoples that needs to be addressed.

"It is still a painful part of our history that we are coming to grips with," he said.

The history of residential schools has led to the controversy surrounding them. For many of the survivors, the cycle of abuse began when they were physically, emotionally or sexually abused at the schools. These were behaviours instilled in them, and as a result, many victims now abuse their own children.

The key to helping many of the young aboriginal people break this cycle is to help them understand the behaviours of their parents and grandparents. At a youth advisory meeting held by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in March 2001, the youth said awareness and education are the number one factor in healing and reconciliation.

Roger Wah-Shee, a member of the Tli Cho First Nation, attended the opening. His mother went to a residential school in Fort Smith for many years, and Wah-Shee said that this was a chance for him to get a better understanding of her story.

"The history of residential schools is largely buried," he said. "But this helps me. I can see the story now."

Wah-Shee said that although his mother had a more positive experience at the residential school, simply because she obeyed the rules, she was also exposed to many terrible and negative behaviours.

"I don't see pain and I don't see resentment in her," said Wah-Shee. His mother is now in university, working towards her second degree.

"She encouraged us to use the land and strive for our best," he said.

The exhibit was first launched at the National Archives in Ottawa over a year ago, and Ingrid Parent, from the National Archives of Canada, said since it's launch it has become one of the most popular exhibits in Ottawa.

The exhibit contains archived information about residential schools, as well as a number of portraits that portray the courage and strength of those who went through the experience. "The attitude that schools began with was that aboriginal peoples were inferior, stupid, ignorant," said Jeff Thomas, developer of the exhibit. "It's those very basic human rights that were taken away from us."

The exhibit will be at the Great Hall until Oct. 6.

It will then be moved to Sir John Franklin high school where it will be on display until Nov. 21.

If anyone is affected by the display, Life Works counselling services have offered their help.

They will have a counsellor on hand as well as a respected elder to help people cope.