Yumimi Pang
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 23, 2008

IQALUIT - Justice Harry LaForme, chair of the Indian residential schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, stopped briefly in Iqaluit recently.

LaForme was en route to the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay.

He said in the first month of its operation, the commission is working on projects such as preparing a budget and appointing advisory groups.

Currently the commission is made up of LaForme and two commissioners, Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Brewin Morley, none of whom are Inuit.

"There's only three commissioners so that inevitably leads to somebody feeling that they're not properly represented. We're aware of that and we want to make that up in many ways," said LaForme, who is a member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation in southern Ontario.

Those ways include finding knowledgeable people to advise the commission as well as advisory bodies that represent such groups, which would include Inuit. "We're hopeful that we're going to be getting the necessary input and proper representation," said LaForme.

LaForme considered his very first visit to Nunavut as a way to touch base with its people. "I just want to be here and say we're here and we intend to come back when it's up and running and we intend to involve you. We need those stories. We need that history told and what better way to do it than to go to the people."

Although LaForme has never attended residential school, he felt compelled to take this unique opportunity with the commission, and even left behind the court of appeal where he felt he was able to make considerable contributions as an aboriginal judge.

"It's an opportunity to write that missing chapter," said LaForme. "It's an opportunity to really make an impact on the relationship between aboriginals and the rest of Canada."

LaForme said the relationship had been founded on a level of mistrust and that this commission is a way to plot a better relationship for the future. "This commission fills me with hope," said LaForme.