Final residential school report released
Law Society to examine TRC report; Dene National chief says it's an end of an era
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, December 18, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In the days before the release of the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the Law Society of the Northwest Territories moved to study the 94 recommendations to see what changes the group representing lawyers in the territory can make and elected its first aboriginal person as president.
The commission released its multi-volume final report after six years of chronicling the pain and suffering inflicted by the residential school system across the country. It found at least 3,200 students of the estimated 150,000 who went through the system died, many left in unmarked graves.
The North gets its own section in the report, noting long distances between communities children were from and the schools they were sent to in some cases separated them from their family for years.
Because of the demographics of the North, the school system had an even greater impact than in the south.
"(Students) were educated in an alien language and setting," the report states. "They lived in institutions that were underfunded and understaffed, and were prey to harsh discipline, disease and abuse."
Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, who is quoted in the report, stated in a news release the final report is the start of a new era regarding indigenous rights and interests.
He told the commission that his great-aunt, who attended a residential school in Fort Providence, would tell him a story about another student who was disciplined for wetting the bed.
"They'd get a tub of cold water, either cold water or very, very hot water, and make her sit in it, and they would hold her down, and they could hear the girl screaming and in pain," the report quotes him as saying.
The members of the law society, the self-regulating body for lawyers in the territory, voted at their annual general meeting Dec. 5 to create a working group to examine the report.
"The policies that made the Indian Residential School System possible were established within Canada's political system with the advice and direction of lawyers," society president Shannon Cumming stated in a news release.
He was elected to the position at the same meeting and believed to be the first aboriginal president of any Canadian law society, according to the news release.
Lawyers have an obligation, Cumming stated, to read and understand the impact of the residential school system the report describes as cultural genocide meant to assimilate people and extinguish aboriginal culture.
Recommendations from the working group are expected to be made to the society's leadership before Aboriginal Day in June of next year.
Cumming was not available Wednesday for an interview seeking further details about the working group.
The commission's report included several recommendations related to the justice system, though most apply to the federal government.
Judges must consider factors such as the impact of residential school when sentencing an aboriginal offender following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
One of the TRC report recommendations calls on law societies to ensure their members receive "appropriate cultural competency training" on subjects such as the legacy of the residential school system, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, treaties and aboriginal rights, indigenous law, and aboriginal/Crown relations.
It also calls on law schools in Canada to require students to take a course in aboriginal people and the law which would cover similar topics as those law society members should receive.
The report calls on the federal and territorial governments to commit to eliminating over-representation of aboriginal people in custody over the next 10 years with detailed updates about the progress issued annually.
It also calls on governments to reform the justice system to address the needs of offenders with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised the federal government will implement all of the 94 recommendations, including seeking an apology from the Pope. While the federal government funded the schools, religious groups ran them.
The territorial government released its responses to the TRC recommendations in October. It states it will continue to work on reducing the number of aboriginal people in custody and will take part in national monitoring of progress.
It also stated the GNWT will continue to "explore" ways to address needs of offenders affected by addictions, mental illness, fetal alcohol syndrome and cognitive impairments.
