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.

scholarly journals The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Insights into the Goal of Transformative Education

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Czyzewski
Keyword(s):  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Settlement Agreement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada

In 2006, the Government of Canada announced the approval of a final Residential Schools Settlement Agreement with the collaboration of the four churches responsible (United, Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic), the federal government and residential school survivors. Schedule "N" of the Agreement lists the mandate of the TRC; therein, the TRC states one of its goals as: (d) to promote awareness and public education of Canadians about the system and its impacts. Can education - as the TRC hopes to engender - truly be transformative, renewing relationships and promoting healing in the process of forging these new relationships? The literature reviewed and the conferences attended highlighted that generating empathy may be a necessary ingredient for the instigation of social change, but is insufficient. Transformation through education, or reconciliation through truth-telling, testimonial reading and responsible listening would mean claiming a genuine, supportive responsibility for the colonial past. Educational policy and media initiatives are fundamental to creating awareness, developing public interest and support of the TRC's recommendations. However, authors also stress the importance of critical pedagogy in the whole process of truth and reconciliation, and that real reconciliation would require confronting the racism that initiated these institutions and allowed for a decontextualization of their impacts.

WHEN INDEMNITY BECOMES DISDAINFUL: REVENGE AS METAPHOR FOR ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESSES’ IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICAN DRAMA

Imbizo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Busuyi Mekusi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Popular Opinion ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Past Wrongs

Revenge, as an instance of oppositionality, typifies past wrongs, evils, violations and disregard for human dignity which have been imputed and for which the offender must be reprimanded. The foregoing sequence is remindful of the dastardly apartheid dispensation in South Africa, which is a strong metaphor for strife and ‘ruptured’ human interactions. While the transition of South Africa to constitutionality was substantially heralded by the negotiating preponderances of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a number of people have adjudged the TRC to be a mere attempt to draw a curtain on the past - in sharp contrast to the spirit and letter of the commission. By so doing, there is a popular opinion that there are still some ‘unfinished business’ that ironically link the present with the past. Therefore, it is considered a ‘must’ that these ‘silences’ be addressed in order for the present and future of South Africa not to be intractably burdened by the past. Bhekizizwe Peterson’s and Ramadan Suleman’s Zulu Love Letter (both film and scripted play) has joined this discourse by artistically amplifying the need for an engagement with these ‘deafening silences’. It is in the light of the aforementioned that this article investigates the process of wrong and attempts by the hegemony to expiate such wrongs, in the context of impervious agents, who disregard the processes for peaceful engagements, but rather scorn and threaten victims of their vicious actions for daring to seek justice. The article sees such a repudiation of one’s evil act and the conciliatory stance of the government as capable of breeding revenge. However, the article concludes that when medicated, using certain cultural and religious beliefs, the bleeding heart that is prone to seeking revenge or retaliation (vengeance) might also be a carrier of forgiveness and collectivism.

scholarly journals Ethnic Memory And Historical Injustices In Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 545-555
Author(s):  
Atere Clement Olusegun
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ethnic Memory ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Come ◽  
Fresh Insight

It is a known fact that not few Nigerians believed that the country has committed atrocities against her citizen and this has caused mutual suspicion, deep divisions, inter-ethnic wrangling, and unending disputations in this ethnically and geographically diverse nation. The aim of this paper is to provide fresh insight on the causality of the deep mistrust and mutual suspicion among the various ethnic groups which in turn has caused the Nigeria nation much needed unity. The paper argued that recurring memorialization of unresolved historical injustices has been a potent poison to the glowing of communal and organic wellbeing of the nation. The paper concluded that the government must redress the past historical injustices, explore how Nigerians together can search for common memories to meet present needs,  and allow the various ethnic group to come to terms with their past. The paper recommended new Truth and Reconciliation Commission  

Instructive Past: Lessons from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples for the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jula Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Indian Residential Schools

AbstractOver time, the Canadian state has used a variety of mechanisms to address its troubled relationship with its indigenous population, the most prominent of which so far was the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). RCAP was mandated to develop both a constitutional framework and a comprehensive social-welfare policy. Staffed predominantly with constitutional lawyers, it articulated a sophisticated constitutional theory, which was not implemented, and did little to ameliorate the living conditions of Aboriginal people. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools (TRC), while arising from the settlement of a national class action, can be seen as a successor commission to RCAP. It follows in the procedural footprints of RCAP in a number of ways, including in the profile of its key appointments. This article argues that looking back at the successes and failures of RCAP can be instructive for the TRC as it carries out its mandate, allowing us to predict some areas that will be particularly challenging. In these areas, the TRC will require a departure from the RCAP blueprint if it is to achieve the ambitious goals of a TRC in a non-transitional-justice context.

scholarly journals Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Settling the Past?

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Regime Change ◽  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Settlement Agreement ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government

The Indian Residential Schools (IRS) system has been referred to as “Canada's greatest national shame”. The IRS system is now the subject of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Unlike other truth commissions that have been created due to regime change, where a majority of citizens sought a truth-seeking process, Canada’s TRC arose as a result of protracted litigation by survivors of the IRS system against the government and churches that ran the schools. This article reviews the genesis of TRC in a legal settlement agreement, along with some of the challenges this origin entails.

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.

Missiological implications for Taylor Seminary arising from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-413
Author(s):  
Allan Effa
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Cooperative Effort ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Cultural Genocide ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada ◽  
Set Up

In 2015 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded a six-year process of listening to the stories of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. More than 6000 witnesses came forth to share their personal experiences in listening sessions set up all across the country. These stories primarily revolved around their experience of abuse and cultural genocide through more than 100 years of Residential Schools, which were operated in a cooperative effort between churches and the government of Canada. The Commission’s Final Report includes 94 calls to action with paragraph #60 directed specifically to seminaries. This paper is a case study of how Taylor Seminary, in Edmonton, is seeking to engage with this directive. It explores the changes made in the curriculum, particularly in the teaching of missiology, and highlights some of the ways the seminary community is learning about aboriginal spirituality and the history and legacy of the missionary methods that have created conflict and pain in Canadian society.

EXPRESS: New Order and Old Institutions: South Africa and the Institutional Work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110062
Author(s):  
Tapiwa Seremani ◽  
Carine Farias ◽  
Stewart Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
New Order ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Maintenance Work ◽  
Institutional Maintenance ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

The paper contributes to literatures on settlements and institutional maintenance work. It does so by unpacking post-settlement legitimation efforts required to maintain contentious institutions between previously conflicting actors. Settlements often necessitate the maintenance of institutions from the past whose legitimacy is dubious for the new regime. We study the role played by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in re-legitimating and maintaining the institution of the armed forces in the transition from apartheid to democracy. Maintaining this legitimacy required collaboration between the incoming government as well as the apartheid era armed forces. We term these unexpected collaborative efforts “reluctant accommodation work”. Our findings show that the lines of allegiance may be more fluid than currently depicted in the literature. Actors that previously conflicted need to find an interest in collaborating in their efforts to shape central institutions. Second, we show that for settlements to shape the field, they need to agree on the terms of collaboration, what we term “passage points” as well as engage in public ceremonies to broadly legitimate the settlement and the institution it seeks to preserve.

'Papieren' voor de toekomst

1970 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Gustaaf Janssens
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Cultural Perception ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Government

A purely cultural perception of records and archives is one-sided andincomplete. Records and archival documents are necessary to confirm therights and the obligations of both the government and the citizens. "Therecords are crucial to hold us accountable", says archbishop D. Tutu, formerpresident of the South African 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission'. Forthis reason, the government should organize the archives in such a way thatarchival services can fulfil their task as guardians of society's memorie.Citizens' rights and archives have a close relationship.

scholarly journals Khoisan Identity: A Contribution towards Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Stephanus Klaasen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Significant Period ◽  
Fixed Boundaries ◽  
Or History

This article seeks to explore the identity of the Khoisan as symbolic for reconciliation in South Africa. What contributions can the narrative of a marginalised people such as the Khoisan make to reconciling a divided nation such as South Africa? The Khoisan have been victims of continuous dispossession since the arrival of Bartholomew Diaz at the Cape in 1488. However, it was the taking of land in 1657 from the Khoisan for the free burgers that marked a significant period for the current discourse on land and for identity and reconciliation within post-apartheid South Africa. Notwithstanding the attempts by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to use narratives for healing, restoration, and continuing engagement with the meta-narratives of the past, my own use of narrative is open-ended with space for dialogue through interaction. The past or history does not have fixed boundaries, but rather blurred boundaries that function as spaces of transcendence. The narrative approach has four interactionist variables which are personhood, communication, power as reflected experience, and fluid community. I point out weaknesses of the use of narrative by the TRC as well as the interaction between experience and theory by practical theologians to construct an open-ended narrative of the Khoisan for reconciliation in South Africa.  

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