03) “THIS WAS NOT JUST A CRIME - IT WAS GENOCIDE”
Transcript of a CBC New Brunswick interview with Pam Palmater, a Mi’kmaq lawyer from Eel River Bar, New Brunswick, and Indigenous Governance chair at Ryerson University in Toronto. Palmater’s blog is at indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca.
This has been an emotional and long process, six years for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What stands out for you now at this end point?
I think what really stands out to me is that this process started out with what was described as a historic apology and some kind of indication to make amends, yet we’ve had this long drawn out process of even having difficulty getting documents, getting at what is supposed to be the truth. It’s hard to get to the reconciliation part if the government, although apologizing, is still not at the table 100% on accessing everything we need to know.
Justice Sinclair made the point that this is not just a message to government, it’s a message to Canadian society.
That message is really strong and clear. We can’t put any soft words on this. This wasn’t just benign neglect or a really good education policy gone wrong. This was not just a crime, it was genocide. Raping, torturing, murdering, assaulting and starving children is wrong, it’s wrong under the Criminal Code, it’s wrong under any of our morals and values, and it’s definitely wrong internationally.
So how do we begin the process of repairing that relationship between First Nations and Canada itself?
Part of the issue in terms of going forward is that we have to get at the whole truth. Remember this is just part of a litigation settlement for a certain number of named schools. It doesn’t address the day schools, the ‘60s scoop, the over-representation in prison, the thousands of murdered and missing Indigenous women. It’s important to understand is this isn’t just a part of our history. This is a part of our present and what continues to happen to our children.
For Canadians, that’s the most important message, how do we stop what’s happening today, and not just hear about the history and apologize and move forward.
The most important part of the apology is how do you make amends. If you have targetted a specific people and their culture and languages to eradicate them, how do we now restore and revitalize them? If we broke up families and gave them generations of trauma and poor health and poverty, how do we undo all of that? I think that just as much money time and effort that went into trying to destroy us also needs to be put into trying to restore us, and we have to be the ones who lead the way.
Justice Sinclair said that Canada must move from apology to action. What would that action look like in this province?
...There has got to be funding and supports at all levels for language and culture. We have got to restore those. The Maliseet language is at risk of extinction, the Mi’kmaq language will be heading that way soon unless we incorporate that in our education system. Also educating all New Brunswickers about what happened so that we can change the relationship...
New Brunswickers are going to have to understand that reconciliation means implementation of treaties. It means restoring the stolen lands and resources to First Nations. And it means actually sharing, and that’s going to require a transfer of land and resources. This isn’t just about making nice and saying sorry and getting along. The relationship context is also based securely and legally in the treaty relationship, and that means sharing and restoration.
How should non-Aboriginals view this process? It can be perceived by non-Aboriginals as threatening.
Well, it can be. People have to understand that was never the intention of this process. It was really about highlighting the abuses of people in power, primarily the Canadian government and successive ministers of Indian affairs. We’re not looking at our neighbours, saying look at what you did or what your father did. What we are saying is that because you benefitted from our dispossession, now it’s time to make amends and make sure that our lands and resources are restored, and that we are sharing it as we always intended under the treaties. This isn’t about New Brunswickers, you’ve done something wrong, you need to go away. It’s always been about getting back to this treaty relationship. It’s significant, given that everything that has been done to us, that we are not saying anything negative about Canadians. We are saying that we still want to work with you in partnership, and inter-marry, work together and protect one another. That’s what was always intended. New Brunswickers should take that away from this process.
(The above article is from the June 16-30, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)