I have experienced hardships an Akisqnuk First Nation person, and do not fall into the aforementioned group of people who were entitled to financial reparations.
This includes intergenerational trauma as ancestors of those who survived residential school; multiple experiences of homelessness, starting at age 14, and I still have nightmares of this; siblings in foster care; a sibling living mostly in jail; a sibling who died during the opiate crisis; extended family struggling not to lose custody of their children with family intervening; a sibling currently experiencing homelessness; parents who were both incarcerated; none of my siblings graduated highschool; siblings experiencing violence and rape... etc...
I have experienced hardships an Akisqnuk First Nation person, and do not fall into the aforementioned group of people who were entitled to financial reparations.
This includes intergenerational trauma as ancestors of those who survived residential school; multiple experiences of homelessness, starting at age 14, and I still have nightmares of this; siblings in foster care; a sibling living mostly in jail; a sibling who died during the opiate crisis; extended family struggling not to lose custody of their children with family intervening; a sibling currently experiencing homelessness; parents who were both incarcerated; none of my siblings graduated highschool; siblings experiencing violence and rape... etc...
Pretty bad luck, huh?
Yah that top headline was the one I was referring too.
Its a sensitive topic and its really hard to articulate thoughts and hoping your not presenting an arguement poorly.
My concerns were more about segregation than money. Money's a big part because i think Canadians will only go so far with how much they'd be willing to chip in. Especially when the government already dug themselves in a deep financial hole.
Its the segregation thing i cant wrap my head around. Were not the worst country at multicultaralism. People move here from different countries and different cultures and (while not perfect) we seem to function.
First Nations are somewhat isolated from the rest of Canada. To me the reserve system feels like semi voluntary segregation.
To me its more than money. Its how do we function together. If we function seperate how do we ever truly reconcile?
I dunno. I made my argument poorly. Money can help but theres only so much of it. To me for the country to move ahead it needs to learn how to function together.
There is funding made available to build housing on reserves for band members that is unavailable on other land, so that's a bit of the monetary factor the government provides which is also at play in that physical segregation.
Multiculturalism is healthy. Assimilation and cultural genocide, not so much.
My upbringing is a typical statistical First Nation trajectory. Poor First Nation, Metis and Inuit trajectories, which are not equivalent to our Canadian peers, are due to systemic racism. Damn straight 'redress beyond payments' is required.
After decades of relying on bottled water an Indigenous community west of Quesnel now has a steady supply of clean drinking water straight from the tap.
A Lhoosk'uz Dené village of about 50 people, located 200 kilometres west of Quesnel on Kluskus Lake now has clean water thanks to a new water treatment plant crafted for their needs.
Since the early 2000s, the Lhoosk'uz Dené community (formerly known as Kluskus) has relied on untreated water from wells and streams for household needs, and on bottled water delivered year-round.
“We had to do things differently. And now, what was just a dream many years ago is reality,” says Chief Liliane Squinas, in a University of British Columbia (UBC) news release.
The treatment system, which was developed with the help of a team from UBC, relies primarily on ultraviolet light, paired with chlorine disinfection, to ensure clean drinking water that is free of harmful microbes.
The setup is simple enough that it can be operated, maintained and even repaired without relying heavily on specialist skills or pricey components....
After decades of relying on bottled water an Indigenous community west of Quesnel now has a steady supply of clean drinking water straight from the tap.
A Lhoosk'uz Dené village of about 50 people, located 200 kilometres west of Quesnel on Kluskus Lake now has clean water thanks to a new water treatment plant crafted for their needs.
Since the early 2000s, the Lhoosk'uz Dené community (formerly known as Kluskus) has relied on untreated water from wells and streams for household needs, and on bottled water delivered year-round.
“We had to do things differently. And now, what was just a dream many years ago is reality,” says Chief Liliane Squinas, in a University of British Columbia (UBC) news release.
The treatment system, which was developed with the help of a team from UBC, relies primarily on ultraviolet light, paired with chlorine disinfection, to ensure clean drinking water that is free of harmful microbes.
The setup is simple enough that it can be operated, maintained and even repaired without relying heavily on specialist skills or pricey components....
Full story on castanet bc
I’m sorry to hear what you and your family have gone through and are still going through. Congratulations on getting clean…
That is a good news story. Now let’s get all indigenous communities drinking clean drinking water…that is a basic human right.
I do not know what to tell you about the reserve system…I think that should be left up to indigenous people’s.
But money is not the issue for me. This country gives money to every Tom, dick and Harry but balks at helping indigenous proples…
US churches reckon with traumatic legacy of Native schools
By PETER SMITH
Today
The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States — and in particular by the churches that operated many of them.
U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.
Some U.S. churches have been reckoning with this activity for years through ceremonies, apologies and archival investigations, while others are just getting started. Some advocates say churches have more work to do in opening their archives, educating the public about what was done in the name of their faith and helping former students and their relatives tell their stories of family trauma.
“We all need to work together on this,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest and missioner for Indigenous Ministries with the Episcopal Church.
“What’s happening in Canada, that’s a wakeup call to us,” said Hauff, who is enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
This painful history has drawn relatively little attention in the United States compared with Canada, where the recent discoveries of graves underscored what a 2015 government commission called a “cultural genocide.”
That’s beginning to change.
This month top officials with the U.S. Episcopal Church acknowledged the denomination’s own need to reckon with its involvement with such boarding schools.
“We have heard with sorrow stories of how this history has harmed the families of many Indigenous Episcopalians,” read a July 12 statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the denomination’s House of Deputies.
“We must come to a full understanding of the legacies of these schools,” they added, calling for the denomination’s next legislative session in 2022 to earmark funds for independent research into church archives and to educate church members.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary, announced last month that her department would investigate “the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of residential Indian boarding schools.” That would include seeking to identify the schools and their burial sites.
Soon afterward, she spoke at a long-planned ceremony at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of nine children who died at the school more than a century earlier were returned to Rosebud Sioux tribal representatives for reburial in South Dakota.
U.S. religious groups were affiliated at least 156 such schools, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, formed in 2012 to raise awareness and address the traumas of the institutions. That’s more than 40% of the 367 schools documented so far by the coalition.
Eighty-four were affiliated with the Catholic Church or its religious orders, such as the Jesuits. The other 72 were affiliated with various Protestant groups, including Presbyterians (21), Quakers (15) and Methodists (12). Most have been closed for decades.
Samuel Torres, director of research and programs for the coalition, said church apologies can be a good start but “there is a lot more to be done” on engaging Indigenous community members and educating the public.
Such information is crucial given how little most Americans know about the schools, both in their impact on Indigenous communities and their role “as an armament toward acquisition of Native lands,” he said.
“Without that truth, then there’s really very limited possibilities of healing,” Torres said.
Hauff noted that the experiences of former students, such as his own parents, ranged widely. Some said that even amid austerity, loneliness and family separation, they received a good education, made friends, learned skills and freely spoke tribal languages with peers. But others talked of “unspeakable, cruel abuse,” including physical and sexual assault, malnourishment and being punished for speaking Native languages.
“Even if some of the children did say they had a positive experience, it did come at a price,” Hauff said. “Our church worked hand in hand with the government to assimilate these children. ... We need to acknowledge it happened.”
In Canada, where more than 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools over more than a century, a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified 3,201 deaths amid poor conditions.
The United Church of Canada, which operated 15 such schools, has apologized for its role, opened its archives and helped identify burial sites.
The Rev. Richard Bott, moderator of the United Church, lamented that “we were perpetrators in this” and that the church “put the national goal of assimilation ahead of our responsibility as Christians.”
The Catholic Church’s response in Canada remains controversial. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June that he was “deeply disappointed” the Vatican has not offered a formal apology. Pope Francis expressed “sorrow” following the discovery of the graves and has agreed to meet at the Vatican in December with school survivors and other Indigenous leaders.
Canada’s Catholic bishops said in a joint statement this month that they are “saddened by the Residential Schools legacy.” In Saskatchewan, bishops have launched a fundraising campaign to benefit survivors and other reconciliation efforts.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meanwhile, said it would “look for ways to be of assistance” in the Interior Department’s inquiry.
“We cannot even begin to imagine the deep sorrow these discoveries are causing in Native communities across North America,” spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said.
Influential voices such as the Jesuit-affiliated America Magazine are urging U.S. Catholic bishops not to repeat their mishandling of cases of child sex abuse by priests and other religious leaders.
“For decades the people of God were anguished by the obfuscation on the part of those church leaders who allowed only a trickle of incomplete document releases from diocesan and provincial archives while investigators struggled to get to the truth,” the magazine said in an editorial. “The church in the United States must demonstrate that it has learned from ... such failures.”
Individual efforts are underway, however, such as at the Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, which has formed a Truth and Healing Advisory Committee to reckon with the years it was managed by Catholic orders.
Other churches have addressed their legacy to varying degrees.
Early in 2017, leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) traveled to Utqiagvik, on Alaska’s North Slope, to deliver a sweeping apology before a packed school auditorium for the treatment of Indigenous persons in general, and specifically for how it operated the boarding schools.
The Rev. Gradye Parsons, former stated clerk for the denomination, told the gathering that the church had been “in contempt of its own proclaimed faith” in suppressing Native spiritual traditions amid its zeal to spread Christianity, and “the church judged when it should have listened.”
“It has taken us too long to get to this apology,” Parsons said. “Many of your people who deserved the apology the most are gone.”
The United Methodist Church held a ceremony of repentance in 2012 for historic injustices against Native peoples, and in 2016 it acknowledged its role in the boarding schools in tandem with a government effort to “intentionally” destroy traditional cultures and belief systems.
Still, the Native American International Caucus of the United Methodist Church recently urged the church to do more “to uncover the truth about our denomination’s role and responsibility in this reprehensible history.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Charla Huber: Turnout for Penelakut Tribe march evidence of Islanders' compassion
A few weeks ago, Penelakut Tribe announced 160 undocumented and unmarked graves were found on the former Kuper Island Industrial School grounds on its territory on Penelakut Island.
On B.C. Day, Penelakut Tribe hosted a Walk to Bring the Children Home, as a way to honour its residential school survivors, the children who never made it home, and their families who have been waiting. I attended this event in Chemainus and was overwhelmed to see more than 2,000 people, creating a sea of orange shirts.
Many times, members of Penelakut Tribe spoke of how overwhelmed they were at the attendance and the number of allies in the crowd.
There is so much negativity that presents itself loudly, yet events like this reinforce the compassion, camaraderie and support of people here on Vancouver Island.
The path forward is walking together, and I felt that in a very tangible way on Monday’s walk.
After the march, the group gathered at Waterwheel Park, with many people taking turns to speak and share stories to a captive audience.
At one point, a man stood at the microphone and asked Indigenous people in the crowd to yell out labels that they have received. “Lazy,” “drunk,” “welfare case,” “stupid,” “get everything for free” were among the words yelled out.
It was powerful to sit there, and hard to hear the words. As each word was yelled out, I watched many nodding heads, acknowledging that they, too, have been called those words.
As an Indigenous journalist, I receive some of these words in emails from readers, too.
article continues at link
my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
Legal group backs US review of Indigenous boarding schools
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
19 mins ago
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The American Bar Association’s policymaking body has voted in favor of a resolution supporting the U.S. Interior Department as it works to uncover the troubled legacy of federal boarding schools that sought to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society.
The resolution, adopted Monday by delegates at the bar association’s annual meeting, calls for the Biden administration and Congress to fully fund the initiative and provide subpoena power to the Interior Department as it gathers and reviews reams of records related to the schools.
The measure also supports legislation that would create a federal commission to investigate and document all aspects of the boarding school system in the U.S., including issuing reports regarding the root causes of human rights abuses at the schools and to make recommendations to prevent future atrocities.
“Putting a light on what is occurring here is so critical because we know that if we do not learn from this history, we are doomed to repeat it,” Mark Schickman, a San Francisco-based attorney who serves as a special adviser with the bar association, said as he introduced the resolution.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, announced the boarding school initiative following news that hundreds of bodies were being discovered on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada.
Experts say the initiative will be difficult because records are scattered across jurisdictions — from the bowels of university archives to government offices, churches, museums and personal collections.
“The department is compiling decades of files and records to begin a proper review that will allow us to organize documents, identify available and missing information, and ensure that our records system is standardized,” said Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department.
The agency also is building a framework for how it will partner with outside organizations to guide the next steps of the review.
Consultations with tribes are expected to begin in late fall. Schwartz said those discussions will be focused on ways to protect and share sensitive information and how to protect gravesites and sacred burial traditions.
In the United States, the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and other laws and policies were enacted to establish and support Native American boarding schools nationwide. For over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
My family was assimilated so well, my First Nation mother calls them dirty Indians.
I get a kick outta that.
I hope Ed stops singing 'Ignorant Indians".
I've thought about that before, and I came to the conclusion ed is not singing from first person on this, so I think it's still ok to sing and actualy I think he SHOULD still sing it.
Would it be acceptable if he sang, 'Ignorant n-word' as it's not from the first person?
I was actually going to pre-emptively say in my post that it's not like the N word. But I didn't. I think you and I both know they simply do not hold the same weight of offense. They just don't. I mean, as an example, there's never been a Minister of N Word Affairs in any government position. it didn't even start out as a pejorative. It was just incorrect.
fwiw, you have a song about what is in effect white arrogance.
as if we, the white man, are so fucking superior in all things.
yet, to look at societal structures etc, native cultures were/ARE far and away so far advanced in more fully realized humanness and its potential than WASPY northern european "culture" its sad.
the invaders are the ignorant savages. and my bloodline spans that region.....
so yeah, to remove those two words from its larger context it is offensive. viewing in total though it serves to further the idea whitey is the dumbfuck I think the song represents.
thats my non-native invaders blood opinion anyway.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Regarding the Ed "Ignorant Indian" thing, I agree that as not sung from first person, rather than a racist statement, it's a very effective put down on those who hated and abused first nations/ Native American people and assisted in their genocide.
Carl Wilson did something similar, singing in third person in the song "Trader":
Trader found the jeweled land Was occupied before he came By humans of a second look Who couldn't even write their names, shame Trader said they're not as good As folks who wear velvet robes Wrote home again and asked, "Please help Their breasts I see; they're not like me Banish them from our prairies and our hillsides Clear them from our mountains and our seaside I want them off our lakes so please reply Signed sincerely."
That is a powerful song that speaks volumes about the atrocities of the European conquest of the continent of what we now call America. I'm not a First Nations/ Native American, but if I were, I can't imagine finding either song offensive. If anything, I would probably say to myself, Why has it taken so damn long for these people to sing these songs? And I would (and do) find far more offense at blonde women in SUV's with dream catchers hanging from their rear view mirror, and white guys and their sports teams named after native cultures.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
"Earlier today, the Standing Strong (Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) Task Force’s final report was presented to Ryerson’s Board of Governors. The Board approved a motion to accept all 22 recommendations, including the recommendation to rename the university"
Comments
Its a sensitive topic and its really hard to articulate thoughts and hoping your not presenting an arguement poorly.
My concerns were more about segregation than money. Money's a big part because i think Canadians will only go so far with how much they'd be willing to chip in. Especially when the government already dug themselves in a deep financial hole.
Its the segregation thing i cant wrap my head around. Were not the worst country at multicultaralism. People move here from different countries and different cultures and (while not perfect) we seem to function.
First Nations are somewhat isolated from the rest of Canada. To me the reserve system feels like semi voluntary segregation.
To me its more than money. Its how do we function together. If we function seperate how do we ever truly reconcile?
I dunno. I made my argument poorly. Money can help but theres only so much of it. To me for the country to move ahead it needs to learn how to function together.
Sorry to hear about your tough upbringing.
Multiculturalism is healthy. Assimilation and cultural genocide, not so much.
My upbringing is a typical statistical First Nation trajectory. Poor First Nation, Metis and Inuit trajectories, which are not equivalent to our Canadian peers, are due to systemic racism. Damn straight 'redress beyond payments' is required.
Indigenous community near Quesnel gets clean drinking water after 20 years
After decades of relying on bottled water an Indigenous community west of Quesnel now has a steady supply of clean drinking water straight from the tap.
A Lhoosk'uz Dené village of about 50 people, located 200 kilometres west of Quesnel on Kluskus Lake now has clean water thanks to a new water treatment plant crafted for their needs.
Since the early 2000s, the Lhoosk'uz Dené community (formerly known as Kluskus) has relied on untreated water from wells and streams for household needs, and on bottled water delivered year-round.
“We had to do things differently. And now, what was just a dream many years ago is reality,” says Chief Liliane Squinas, in a University of British Columbia (UBC) news release.
The treatment system, which was developed with the help of a team from UBC, relies primarily on ultraviolet light, paired with chlorine disinfection, to ensure clean drinking water that is free of harmful microbes.
The setup is simple enough that it can be operated, maintained and even repaired without relying heavily on specialist skills or pricey components....
Full story on castanet bc
That is a good news story. Now let’s get all indigenous communities drinking clean drinking water…that is a basic human right.
I do not know what to tell you about the reserve system…I think that should be left up to indigenous people’s.
Manitoba’s new Indigenous relations minister sparks backlash over residential school remarks
We have gotta do better...
The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States — and in particular by the churches that operated many of them.
U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.
Some U.S. churches have been reckoning with this activity for years through ceremonies, apologies and archival investigations, while others are just getting started. Some advocates say churches have more work to do in opening their archives, educating the public about what was done in the name of their faith and helping former students and their relatives tell their stories of family trauma.
“We all need to work together on this,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest and missioner for Indigenous Ministries with the Episcopal Church.
“What’s happening in Canada, that’s a wakeup call to us,” said Hauff, who is enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
This painful history has drawn relatively little attention in the United States compared with Canada, where the recent discoveries of graves underscored what a 2015 government commission called a “cultural genocide.”
That’s beginning to change.
This month top officials with the U.S. Episcopal Church acknowledged the denomination’s own need to reckon with its involvement with such boarding schools.
“We have heard with sorrow stories of how this history has harmed the families of many Indigenous Episcopalians,” read a July 12 statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the denomination’s House of Deputies.
“We must come to a full understanding of the legacies of these schools,” they added, calling for the denomination’s next legislative session in 2022 to earmark funds for independent research into church archives and to educate church members.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary, announced last month that her department would investigate “the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of residential Indian boarding schools.” That would include seeking to identify the schools and their burial sites.
Soon afterward, she spoke at a long-planned ceremony at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of nine children who died at the school more than a century earlier were returned to Rosebud Sioux tribal representatives for reburial in South Dakota.
U.S. religious groups were affiliated at least 156 such schools, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, formed in 2012 to raise awareness and address the traumas of the institutions. That’s more than 40% of the 367 schools documented so far by the coalition.
Eighty-four were affiliated with the Catholic Church or its religious orders, such as the Jesuits. The other 72 were affiliated with various Protestant groups, including Presbyterians (21), Quakers (15) and Methodists (12). Most have been closed for decades.
Samuel Torres, director of research and programs for the coalition, said church apologies can be a good start but “there is a lot more to be done” on engaging Indigenous community members and educating the public.
Such information is crucial given how little most Americans know about the schools, both in their impact on Indigenous communities and their role “as an armament toward acquisition of Native lands,” he said.
“Without that truth, then there’s really very limited possibilities of healing,” Torres said.
Hauff noted that the experiences of former students, such as his own parents, ranged widely. Some said that even amid austerity, loneliness and family separation, they received a good education, made friends, learned skills and freely spoke tribal languages with peers. But others talked of “unspeakable, cruel abuse,” including physical and sexual assault, malnourishment and being punished for speaking Native languages.
“Even if some of the children did say they had a positive experience, it did come at a price,” Hauff said. “Our church worked hand in hand with the government to assimilate these children. ... We need to acknowledge it happened.”
In Canada, where more than 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools over more than a century, a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified 3,201 deaths amid poor conditions.
The United Church of Canada, which operated 15 such schools, has apologized for its role, opened its archives and helped identify burial sites.
The Rev. Richard Bott, moderator of the United Church, lamented that “we were perpetrators in this” and that the church “put the national goal of assimilation ahead of our responsibility as Christians.”
The Catholic Church’s response in Canada remains controversial. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June that he was “deeply disappointed” the Vatican has not offered a formal apology. Pope Francis expressed “sorrow” following the discovery of the graves and has agreed to meet at the Vatican in December with school survivors and other Indigenous leaders.
Canada’s Catholic bishops said in a joint statement this month that they are “saddened by the Residential Schools legacy.” In Saskatchewan, bishops have launched a fundraising campaign to benefit survivors and other reconciliation efforts.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meanwhile, said it would “look for ways to be of assistance” in the Interior Department’s inquiry.
“We cannot even begin to imagine the deep sorrow these discoveries are causing in Native communities across North America,” spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said.
Influential voices such as the Jesuit-affiliated America Magazine are urging U.S. Catholic bishops not to repeat their mishandling of cases of child sex abuse by priests and other religious leaders.
“For decades the people of God were anguished by the obfuscation on the part of those church leaders who allowed only a trickle of incomplete document releases from diocesan and provincial archives while investigators struggled to get to the truth,” the magazine said in an editorial. “The church in the United States must demonstrate that it has learned from ... such failures.”
Individual efforts are underway, however, such as at the Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, which has formed a Truth and Healing Advisory Committee to reckon with the years it was managed by Catholic orders.
Other churches have addressed their legacy to varying degrees.
Early in 2017, leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) traveled to Utqiagvik, on Alaska’s North Slope, to deliver a sweeping apology before a packed school auditorium for the treatment of Indigenous persons in general, and specifically for how it operated the boarding schools.
The Rev. Gradye Parsons, former stated clerk for the denomination, told the gathering that the church had been “in contempt of its own proclaimed faith” in suppressing Native spiritual traditions amid its zeal to spread Christianity, and “the church judged when it should have listened.”
“It has taken us too long to get to this apology,” Parsons said. “Many of your people who deserved the apology the most are gone.”
The United Methodist Church held a ceremony of repentance in 2012 for historic injustices against Native peoples, and in 2016 it acknowledged its role in the boarding schools in tandem with a government effort to “intentionally” destroy traditional cultures and belief systems.
Still, the Native American International Caucus of the United Methodist Church recently urged the church to do more “to uncover the truth about our denomination’s role and responsibility in this reprehensible history.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The liberals are nimrods...
https://www.fnha.ca/about/news-and-events/news/sacred-and-strong-report-on-the-health-of-first-nations-women-and-girls-tells-stories-of-strength-resilience
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/rheal-forest-residential-schools-1.6121886
www.headstonesband.com
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/residential-school-survivors-catholic-church-millions-1.6121678
www.headstonesband.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The catholic church is a pedophilia ring...
RCMP investigating after Sipekne’katik lobster fishing boats cut loose from wharf in N.S.
https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/charla-huber-turnout-for-penelakut-tribe-march-evidence-of-islanders-compassion-1.24349488
Charla Huber: Turnout for Penelakut Tribe march evidence of Islanders' compassion
A few weeks ago, Penelakut Tribe announced 160 undocumented and unmarked graves were found on the former Kuper Island Industrial School grounds on its territory on Penelakut Island.
On B.C. Day, Penelakut Tribe hosted a Walk to Bring the Children Home, as a way to honour its residential school survivors, the children who never made it home, and their families who have been waiting. I attended this event in Chemainus and was overwhelmed to see more than 2,000 people, creating a sea of orange shirts.
Many times, members of Penelakut Tribe spoke of how overwhelmed they were at the attendance and the number of allies in the crowd.
There is so much negativity that presents itself loudly, yet events like this reinforce the compassion, camaraderie and support of people here on Vancouver Island.
The path forward is walking together, and I felt that in a very tangible way on Monday’s walk.
After the march, the group gathered at Waterwheel Park, with many people taking turns to speak and share stories to a captive audience.
At one point, a man stood at the microphone and asked Indigenous people in the crowd to yell out labels that they have received. “Lazy,” “drunk,” “welfare case,” “stupid,” “get everything for free” were among the words yelled out.
It was powerful to sit there, and hard to hear the words. As each word was yelled out, I watched many nodding heads, acknowledging that they, too, have been called those words.
As an Indigenous journalist, I receive some of these words in emails from readers, too.
article continues at link
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The American Bar Association’s policymaking body has voted in favor of a resolution supporting the U.S. Interior Department as it works to uncover the troubled legacy of federal boarding schools that sought to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society.
The resolution, adopted Monday by delegates at the bar association’s annual meeting, calls for the Biden administration and Congress to fully fund the initiative and provide subpoena power to the Interior Department as it gathers and reviews reams of records related to the schools.
The measure also supports legislation that would create a federal commission to investigate and document all aspects of the boarding school system in the U.S., including issuing reports regarding the root causes of human rights abuses at the schools and to make recommendations to prevent future atrocities.
“Putting a light on what is occurring here is so critical because we know that if we do not learn from this history, we are doomed to repeat it,” Mark Schickman, a San Francisco-based attorney who serves as a special adviser with the bar association, said as he introduced the resolution.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, announced the boarding school initiative following news that hundreds of bodies were being discovered on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada.
Experts say the initiative will be difficult because records are scattered across jurisdictions — from the bowels of university archives to government offices, churches, museums and personal collections.
“The department is compiling decades of files and records to begin a proper review that will allow us to organize documents, identify available and missing information, and ensure that our records system is standardized,” said Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department.
The agency also is building a framework for how it will partner with outside organizations to guide the next steps of the review.
Consultations with tribes are expected to begin in late fall. Schwartz said those discussions will be focused on ways to protect and share sensitive information and how to protect gravesites and sacred burial traditions.
In the United States, the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and other laws and policies were enacted to establish and support Native American boarding schools nationwide. For over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I get a kick outta that.
I hope Ed stops singing 'Ignorant Indians".
explain your reasoning why please?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
www.headstonesband.com
www.headstonesband.com
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
An appeal for calm as tensions rise again over N.S. Mi'kmaw lobster fishery
Was occupied before he came
By humans of a second look
Who couldn't even write their names, shame
Trader said they're not as good
As folks who wear velvet robes
Wrote home again and asked, "Please help
Their breasts I see; they're not like me
Banish them from our prairies and our hillsides
Clear them from our mountains and our seaside
I want them off our lakes so please reply
Signed sincerely."
https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2021/08/university-accepts-standing-strong-recommendations-including-renaming-the-university/
link to report... https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/next-chapter/Report/SSTF-report-and-recommendations-Aug_24_FINAL.pdf
California teacher placed on leave after video shows her mocking Native American dance in headdress