Media Practices and Painful Pasts: The Public Testimonial in Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2013 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda J. Brady
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Majority Culture ◽  
Aboriginal Children ◽  
Media Practices

From the 1870s through the 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were enrolled in government-funded, church-run Indian Residential Schools (IRS) in Canada. The schools reflected policies aimed at assimilating Aboriginal peoples into majority culture. Many Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuses. As part of its Mandate, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) collects testimonials from residential school survivors in various mediated forms to create a historical record. This article explores the TRC's public statement-gathering process and the ways in which media practices shape and guide testimonials. It argues that the TRC encourages particular survivor narratives as it signals to speakers that they should anticipate the norms and uses of media and narrative guidelines. However, there is a layer of meta-narrative common in TRC statements, suggesting resistance to and subversion of the process. This article considers the nuances of First Nations testimonials against the backdrop of storytelling traditions.

Doing Public History in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Milloy
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Public History ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Governmental Support ◽  
History Of

The author discusses his experience with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, charged with writing a history of the residential school system for First Nations students in Canada and with producing an archive accessible to both scholarly researchers and the public. Funding and limited governmental support for the project limited its scope and effectiveness, but the TRC has helped educate the Canadian public about residential schools, and has made progress towards reconciliation.

scholarly journals So Near Yet So Far: The Extent of Aboriginal Inclusion in Canada

Federalism-E ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Melanie Gillis
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Canadian Federalism ◽  
Aboriginal Children ◽  
Residential Schooling

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) visited Halifax October 2011 to recount the atrocities which occurred in residential schools in Canada. For over one hundred years Aboriginal children attended these government-funded schools aimed at extinguishing the culture, spirituality, and knowledge of Aboriginal Peoples.1 Although extreme, the example of residential schooling demonstrates that Aboriginals were considered outsiders in Canada. While the schools themselves no longer exist, the debate about Aboriginals and the extent to which they are outsiders in the Canadian federal system persists. Political scientist Jennifer Smith (2004) contributes to this debate by describing who is ‘in’ and ‘out’ in terms of Canadian federalism [...]

The Triumph of Olemaun: Survivance, Empathic Unsettlement, and Restorying the History of Canadian Residential Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Mandatory Education ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age Appropriate

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.

Reconciliation in the Public Domain

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddy Van der Borght
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Religious Symbol ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

Reconciliation shifted in South Africa during the transition from being a contested idea in the church struggle to a notion proposed and rejected by the fighting parties and finally embraced by the two main political protagonists when they reached an agreement on the transition to a democratic order. This article analyses the layered meaning of the reconciliation concept within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. On the basis of this description the questions that will be explored are whether reconciliation functioned as a religious symbol at the trc, and if so, in what way. In the conclusion, the way the concept of reconciliation itself was transformed due to the role it played in the transition in South Africa will be summarized and the consequences for theological research will be indicated.

‘I Was Those Thousands!’: Memory, Identity and Space in John Kani'sNothing But the Truth

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-84
Author(s):  
SHANE GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Spatial Configurations

John Kani'sNothing But the Truth(2002) dramatizes South Africa's collective confrontation with its traumatic past – played out on the public stage most visibly in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings – through the personal situation of Sipho Makhaya and his family. This essay analyses the obstacles Sipho and his daughter face in their attempts to negotiate new identities within the shifting social and physical geographies of post-apartheid South Africa. Identities in the apartheid era were rooted in specific places and socio-spatial configurations that are now being radically and rapidly transformed; Kani's play implies that this transitional moment in the country's history provides the opportunity to rewrite the codes that determine the ways that space is produced and used, and in the process to alter the ways that people form identities and memories in relation to both social space and other people.

scholarly journals Jordan’s Principle: Reconciliation and the First Nations Child

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Colleen Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Nations Child ◽  
The Individual

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was mandated to “document the individual and collective harms” of residential schools and to “guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading toward reconciliation.”  The stories of survivors revealed the intergenerational and egregious harms of taking children from their families and communities. In seeking to redress the legacy of the residential schools era, the TRC Calls to Action include greater recognition of self-governance of Indigenous Peoples, as well as numerous recommendations for equitable funding of health, educational, and child welfare services.

scholarly journals The Inuit presence at the first Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission national event

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Gadoua
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
School System ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Residential School ◽  
Cultural Group ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Residential Schooling

This paper addresses various forms of healing and reconciliation among Canadian Inuit and First Nations, in regards to the Indian residential school system and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Stemming from fieldwork at the TRC’s first national event in Winnipeg (June 2010), I present observations that are supplemented by previous studies on Aboriginal healing methods in Canada. Although Inuit and First Nations healing and reconciliation strategies are based on common themes—tradition and community—in practice they diverge notably, both in their principles and in their applications. First Nations seek healing by activating a sense of community that often transcends their specific cultural group or nation, using pan-Indian spiritual traditions and ceremonies. In contrast, the Inuit most commonly seek to preserve and promote specific Inuit traditions and identity as tools in their healing practices. This divergence could be seen in Inuit and First Nations’ participation in the TRC. The creation of the Inuit sub-commission within the TRC in March 2010, resulting from intense lobbying by Inuit leaders, was a first sign of the group’s distinctive approach to healing. But the unfolding of the TRC’s first national event in Winnipeg showed again how these differences materialise in practice and contribute to a better understanding of Inuit responses to the repercussions of their colonial past and strategies for healing from the legacy of residential schooling.

scholarly journals A Bridge to Reconciliation: A Critique of the Indian Residential School Truth Commission

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Flisfeder
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada ◽  
Dispute Resolution Mechanism

In the past year, the Government of Canada has established the Indian Residential Schools (IRS) Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address the deleterious effect that the IRS system has had on Aboriginal communities. This paper argues that the TRC as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism is flawed since it focuses too much on truth at the expense of reconciliation. While the proliferation of historical truths is of great importance, without mapping a path to reconciliation, the Canadian public will simply learn about the mistakes of the past without addressing the residual, communal impacts of the IRS system that continue to linger. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission must therefore approach its mandate broadly and in a manner reminiscent of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples of 1996.

National Reconciliation through Public Hearings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascha Bueno-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Public ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Public Hearings ◽  
New Space ◽  
And Gender ◽  
National Reconciliation ◽  
Selection Of

This chapter examines how the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PTRC) turned from policy suggestions to the symbolic realm of public hearings as part of its efforts to construct and implement a new space of horizontal communication to facilitate the national reconciliation process. The PTRC public hearings aimed to build a new national narrative by giving voice to the victims/testimoniantes and educating the public on lesser-known aspects of the conflict utilizing a human rights framework. This chapter analyzes how procedural and representational issues hindered the full potential of the PTRC public hearings, including the selection of testimonies and the testimonies themselves that demonstrate the restricted qualities of both victimhood and motherhood. It also considers the politics of reception that characterizes the hearings and concludes by suggesting that careful attention to the workings of language, temporality, and gender representation could aid in overcoming the discrimination that impedes democracy and social harmony.

scholarly journals Where are you From? Reframing Facilitated Admissions Policies in the Faculty of Health Sciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle N. Soucy ◽  
Cornelia Wieman
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Medical School Admissions ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Blood Quantum ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Admissions Policies ◽  
Specific Barriers ◽  
Indigenous Learners

Understanding that Indigenous learners can face specific barriers or challenges when pursuing higher education, schools and programs within McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences have facilitated admissions streams for Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) applicants. The intent of reframing admissions policies is to provide equitable access while aligning with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, specifically Number 23. This work explores the development of an Indigenous-determined Facilitated Indigenous Admissions Program (FIAP), a self-identification policy that moves away from the politics of mathematical blood quantum to nationhood, community, and seeing the applicant as whole being. Further, it critiques (for example) medical school admissions as biased, in that they often replicate an elite and narrow segment of society. It also addresses how interpretations of decisions like Daniels v Canada, which speaks to the rights of Métis and non-status Indigenous peoples, are communicated or miscommunicated within emerging population groups in terms of rights and their potential relationship to admissions.

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