Let's make amends for residential schools

Five years ago, I went on a cruise in the North. I have seen much of this wonderful country but like most Canadians, I had never been up North. I know this sounds extravagant but in my defense, a cruise is the only way to see much of it.  The voyage was from Reykjavik Iceland, which is wonderful, around the tip of Greenland, on to Nunavut including a stop in Iqaluit, and then down the coast of Labrador to St. John's, Newfoundland.  

Qaqortoq, Greenland

The North is so beautiful and it's all it's cracked up to be. There are thundering glaciers, shimmering Northern Lights, landscapes covered in flowers, and beautiful friendly children.  Here's a picture of some students in Qaqortoq, Greenland. Look at the town behind them.  The homes are freshly painted and you might not spot them but there's a school and a hospital too.  It was a different story in Labrador.  In the towns where we stopped, I saw buildings that were generally in poor repair and children who were high.

The stark contrast between these communities left me with real questions. The people of the Greenland and Labrador communities are of similar backgrounds and culture. So why is it that a relatively small country like Denmark can appear to get it right while a wealthy country like Canada gets it so wrong?  I have given this some thought over time and it seems that the answer boils down to a difference in the histories.  From what I've read of Greenland's history, it never had residential schools.

Handcuffs used on Native American school children

Let's look at the question of residential schools for a moment because there can often be some confusion.  While residential schools were boarding schools, they were also designed to assimilate Aboriginal children. Residential schools were first opened in 1831 and the last one was closed in 1996. Unlike boarding schools, children as young as four years of age were forcibly sent to live continuously at residential schools often for many years at a time.

A school is supposed to be a refuge for children but students in residential schools were forbidden from speaking their language and practicing their traditions. Hundreds of miles away from home and without a means of travel, many students did not see their families for years.  And we all know about the abuse including sexual abuse that happened in these schools.  I have had the honour of speaking to survivors of residential schools. When I hear the stories, I cannot help but cry for their pain.  How can it be in a country like Canada that these schools were allowed to become something akin to prisons for so many little children?   

Yesterday, I listened to the Speech from the Throne.  There were 133 references to "our government" in the speech.  I counted them.  

In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the survivors of residential schools. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe that when you genuinely apologize, you also try to make amends. Towards this end, I had hoped to hear in the Throne Speech something about a new government initiative for educating children on reserves.  Instead I heard this:

Our Government recognizes the tremendous potential of Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations to strengthen the growing Canadian economy. It will continue working with First Nations to develop stronger, more effective, and more accountable on-reserve education systems. 

Does this sound like a new initiative to you?  And doesn't it strike you as rather odd that "our government" would honour Malala Yousafzai, who is rightly deserving of honour for her heroic efforts in support of education, while ignoring the educational needs of students here at home?

There is an ongoing legacy from these schools that will haunt First Nations and Inuit people for generations. At the impressionable age of 4, Aboriginal children were robbed of their language and culture, robbed of good parenting role models and love, and ultimately robbed of their childhoods.  And with the poverty that surrounds many reserve communities today, how can these children who are now adults hope to raise healthy children?

Governor General Johnston, I am one of your many proud Canadians.  But when I think about the history of the residential schools, I am filled with a deep sense of shame.  It is time for this government to make good on its apology.


For more information about residential schools, go to The Legacy of Hope Foundation or to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.

The wisdom of Malala

What can be said to today's youth by way of advice about the future?  There's little -- it's unknowable and everything changes so rapidly.  There are no reliable trends and few traditions to depend on.  But then this week I came upon Daniel Pink's The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.  It's in a cartoon format and I highly recommend it to all guidance teachers.  While Pink doesn't claim to know the future, he does lay out some guidelines for youth that make sense:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It's not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

As I listened to a very moving interview this week with Malala Yousafzai, I couldn't help but think that Malala is familiar with Pink's work. Of course she couldn't be but how is it then that a 16-year-old girl can be so wise?

Truth be told, I wasn't just very moved by this interview.  I was moved to tears. Even Jon Stewart held his breath as Malala responded to the question of what she would do if she met her Taliban attacker.  I can't do justice to her words but Malala said that she thought about hitting her attacker with her shoe but then realized this would make her no different from him.  Clearly showing that she had reflected on this subject deeply, Malala ends with an answer to the effect that she would tell him to shoot but to listen to her first.

How can Malala know about Gandhian principles?  How is it that someone so young can be so wise?  Then I am brought back to earth by a 16-year-old giggle.

"There is no plan." according to Pink.  Right.  So how does one live one's life?  Do we have to live during the Elizabethan era or be part of the civil rights movement to make a difference?  And what if there isn't an era or a movement to hang your hat on.  What do you do to make a meaningful life?

You do what Malala did.  If the police and politicians aren't acting to right wrongs, you speak up for what's right and you carry on with your life.  Malala and her girlfriends continued to go to school each day.  These girls continued to do what they believed was right even when 400 schools were bombed by the Taliban in the Swat Valley. And from what I heard in the interview, some of the girls like Malala knew their lives were in danger but they didn't dwell on it.  They just got up each morning and went to school.  How powerful is that?

Of course it truly is and Malala knows it.  To the question, "Where did your love of education come from?" Malala responds, "We are human beings and this is the part of our human nature.  We don't learn the importance of anything until it is snatched from our hands.  And in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized that education is very important.  And education is the power for women and that's why the terrorists are afraid of education.  They do not want women to get education because then women will become more powerful."

To echo Jon Stewart's response, exactly!  What is it about education, particularly for girls, that makes it so powerful?  There's a lovely video that helps explain this well -- The Girl Effect, The Clock is Ticking.

It's about more than keeping girls safe in school.  For almost all children, school is their only path to literacy and with literacy, children can learn empathy.  They can read books about teens, in my day it was Catcher in the Rye, learn that their lives are not so different, and feel not quite so alone.  Through reading, they can know other lives and see other possibilities.  They can understand that the lives they live at that moment are not predetermined by fate nor by the authorities.  They can dream other futures.

Through art, students learn about their own creativity and the possibilities for transforming this into talent. With mathematical skills, they can turn these talents into successful businesses that can feed themselves and their families.  And with knowledge of science and health, they can begin to understand that they have some mastery over nature and over their own bodies and then use this to keep themselves and their children healthy.

All children can gain from these gifts but for girls in particular, an education can give them that all-powerful self-confidence to say no.  In a society that places lesser value on women, and let's face it that's most societies, this self-assurance can make all the difference.  The Taliban, and in some ways they are no worse than many western governments, are simply smart enough to know that they lose power in a society where women can say no.

How is it that a 16-year-old is so wise?  Malala has done a lot of living in her sixteen years.  Although it's unlikely that she has read Daniel Pink's books, Malala has learnt his lessons through first-hand experience and reflection.

When your life is threatened for it, most sane adults would say it's a real mistake to continue going to school. But Malala understands Pink's fifth lesson, the one about having the courage to make excellent mistakes, particularly well.  The day she was shot, a year ago yesterday, Malala did what she would always do.  Malala went to school.


P.S.  Since I wrote this post, Malala Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize! She was also invited to the White House to meet with President Obama.  According to various sources, this is what she said to the President:

I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees.  I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fuelling terrorism.  Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people.  If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.

What an amazing young woman!  

The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.