The Children Who Did Not Come Home
From Canada’s ‘Indian’ Residential Schools

Excerpts from media sources provided below:

INTENT

As Chrisjohn explains, the glitch in Canada's garden begins with the problem that, according to European law,
title to most of the land in Canada still belongs to its original inhabitants.

_Globe and Mail's Independent investigation, "The Lost Children of Our Schools." April 28, 2007.
"The myth ... Canada meant well ... That myth may at last fall when Canadians take a close look at the abysmally high death rates among children ... in the schools"

FACT
_Gary Merasty, MP, House of Commons of Canada, 2007
”I stand here for numerous victims whose stories will never be told, whose remains are scattered across our land in unmarked graves, scars on the land and even larger scars on our nation's psyche."

Accounts in native communities across Canada tell not only of abuse but also of a classification of people usually associated with dictatorships in Latin America or other parts of the world: the "disappeared," or the lost children.

RESPONSIBILITY
_Dr. Roland Chrisjohn, St Thomas U, NB
You have a responsibility as a citizen of the world to know what your government is up to and resist [their] unlawful actions," he says. "The crime of genocide is being covered up. Now it's a double crime."

...

Self-determination and self-governance are key issues for indigenous peoples’ human rights. Self-government means aboriginal people regaining control and management over their own land and resources, education, health, employment and justice systems.
http://issues.takingitglobal.org/indigenous

FACT

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG)

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• (a) Killing members of the group;
• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
  

"I could argue all five, but the fifth one is a slam dunk," says Chrisjohn. "There is absolutely no way Canada can deny that they legislated the transference of children from their parents to the church authorities."

On May 21, 1952, when Canada's Parliament ratified the Convention, bringing it into the Canadian Criminal Code, they omitted sections b) and e) of Article Two. A further amendment in 1985 removed section d). It was around this time when accounts of the involuntary sterilization of Native women began to surface.

Stephen Harper, Canada's Apology, June 11 2008

Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home.

That's one way of destroying peoples ... 'lose' half of their children ... unaccounted for to this day ...

"In 1960, with nobody having asked for it, Indians were declared to be citizens of Canada. It wasn't an act of generosity. They were already working on the [ICCPR*] and they wanted to make sure that the Indians wouldn't be able to go to an international court and bring a charge against the Canadian government."

And that's another way of destroying Indigenous Peoples ... Nations ... just legislate them out of existence.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by
General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966

entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49

Article 1 General comment on its implementation

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.

3. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

Canada (as 'the Crown') holds land 'in trust' for Indigenous Peoples, the 88% of Ontario not yet private, for example, and some lands are in dispute, like Caledonia and Brantford, Ontario.

That's another way of destroying Indigenous Peoples ... denying their right to sustain themselves from the land ... failing to respect the Duty of the Crown "consult and
accommodate"

Indigenous land rights:

"A say in development" to ensure that the land will be able to sustain anyone, in the face of the development-mining-logging feeding frenzy on Indigenous land, currently in motion all across Canada.

"A share in resources" to sustain themselves from their land ... where they allow us to live by treaties they honour.
http://grannyrantson.blogspot.com/


TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION "won't shy away from the truth"

(Justice) LaForme says he doesn't know whether the commission will call what happened to these children and their communities "genocide" under United Nations human rights law, or whether forensic scientists will dig for evidence in places where, allegedly, bodies of children have lain buried for decades in unmarked graves.

Accounts in native communities across Canada tell not only of abuse but also of a classification of people usually associated with dictatorships in Latin America or other parts of the world: the "disappeared," or the lost children.

LaForme says he won't shy away from the truth and hopes there will be a "cosmic shift" through the reconciliation he hopes will occur.

Ottawa Watch
http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20080824ottawa

August 24, 2008 — By Simon Doyle

TRC tells government: hands off budget
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission says the federal government is trying to unnecessarily control the flow of money in its $60-million budget, Justice Harry LaForme, a Mississauga Indian and chair of the TRC, told Ottawa Watch in an interview.

Canada subverts TRC ... granny

http://residentialschooldeaths.blogspot.com/2008/09/canada-subverts-trc-it-is-apparent-that.html

IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY.
TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK.
g

trc-cvr@irsr-rqpi.gc.ca
layton.j@parl.gc.ca ,
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca ,
Dion.S@parl.gc.ca ,
Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca ,
strahl.c@parl.gc.ca ,

...
Full quotes and sources ...

FROM _PWMartin, Professor, University of Vermont http://pwmartin.blog.uvm.edu/archives/2007/05/residential_sch.html

(Globe and Mail, "The Lost Children of Our Schools." April 28, 2007.)

The myth of Canada's residential schools for native children holds that the schools had a paternalistic purpose, and that even after all is revealed about them — the physical and sexual abuse, the forced relocation of children, the ban on speaking native languages — Canada meant well. The country was simply limited by the assimilative vision of the times. That myth may at last fall when Canadians take a close look at the abysmally high death rates among children, from tuberculosis and other causes, at the schools. They did not die in one great epidemic; they died over many years — at least 40 — as the federal government ignored warnings from its own medical advisers. The full story of those deaths has not entered the Canadian consciousness. The Canadian Encyclopedia says nothing about tuberculosis under “residential schools” or “native education.” When the Canadian government apologized in 1998 for sexual and physical abuse at the schools, it said nothing about the deaths of children.

_GLOBE AND MAIL APRIL 2007 RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS: INVESTIGATION

Natives died in droves as Ottawa ignored warnings. Tuberculosis took the lives of students for at least 40 years BILL CURRY AND KAREN HOWLETT http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/s....pageRequested=1

OTTAWA -- As many as half of the aboriginal children who attended the early years of residential schools died of tuberculosis, despite repeated warnings to the federal government that overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care were creating a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease, documents show. A Globe and Mail examination of documents in the National Archives reveals that children continued to die from tuberculosis at alarming rates for at least four decades after a senior official at the Department of Indian Affairs initially warned in 1907 that schools were making no effort to separate healthy children from those sick with the highly contagious disease. …

_Rev. Kevin Annett Mr. Annett, as well as some academics, argue that the government's handling, combined with Canada's official policy of removing children from their homes for 10 months each year to attend distant schools, does indeed fit the United Nations definition of genocide. The UN definition, adopted after the Second World War, lists five possible acts that qualify as genocide, of which killing is only one. The fifth act is described as "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." But transcripts of debates in 1952 of the House of Commons external affairs committee, reviewed by The Globe, show public servants advised politicians not to enshrine a definition of genocide into law, despite Canada's promise internationally to do so. In 2000, four years after the last residential school closed, the government finally adopted a limited definition of genocide, excluding the line about forcible transfer of children. But (Canadian) courts have rejected native claims of genocide against Ottawa and the churches because Canada had no law banning genocide while the schools were operating.

_Roland Chrisjohn, Professor "It's another crime," said Roland Chrisjohn, a professor of native studies at St. Thomas University who has written extensively on the subject. "Canada can't define genocide to suit its own purposes." …

_Harry Lucas, Survivor Although most students from this period are no longer alive, some who attended later recall sharing sleeping quarters with dying children. "I've known some students that died there and I don't know how they died. All we know is we had their funeral service," said Harry Lucas, 66, who attended Christie Indian Residential on Vancouver Island from 1948 to 1958. "There were quite a few grave sites there that I always questioned. We were able to sleep next to a person that was dying. They didn't put them away in separate rooms. That was always kind of spooky for me.”

_Jim Prentice, former Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada

"It is unimaginable to any parent that your child would go away to school and not return," he told reporters yesterday. "It is one of the saddest chapters in Canadian history. And obviously it will be incumbent on all of us to come to grips with it."

_Phil Fontaine, AFN Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, welcomed Mr. Prentice's proposals but increased the pressure on Ottawa to issue a full apology for the century of assimilationist policy. Mr. Fontaine, who was one of the first former students to go public with a personal story of abuse, described the federal policy yesterday in a way he has avoided until now. "We're dealing with an issue that meets the definition of genocide," he said.

_TORONTO STAR May 29, 2008 Seeking truth about lost children Native judge chairing hearings on residential schools expects trauma Linda Diebel National Affairs Writer An aboriginal judge whose father was called a "smoked ham" and driven out of university by racism says his goal is to help restore pride of identity in native people. … Is the June 11 apology for the schools Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to extend to native people enough? … LaForme demurs from answering that question. However, he says he can understand why the apology is being given before his commission's investigation has been undertaken. He explained: "We already know how bad things were – we just don't have all the details. But one can still apologize. "We know people put names to things and this is called `the black period' in our history." Few things have been decided. The commission, which has a five-year mandate and is expected to make recommendations, will have coast-to-coast hearings with a timetable yet to be determined. As well, LaForme says he doesn't know whether the commission will call what happened to these children and their communities "genocide" under United Nations human rights law, or whether forensic scientists will dig for evidence in places where, allegedly, bodies of children have lain buried for decades in unmarked graves. Accounts in native communities across Canada tell not only of abuse but also of a classification of people usually associated with dictatorships in Latin America or other parts of the world: the "disappeared," or the lost children. LaForme says he won't shy away from the truth and hopes there will be a "cosmic shift" through the reconciliation he hopes will occur. It is important, he added, for native people to be proud of their identities and he believes the commission can play a role in that.

_THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: May 31, 2008 Chuck Strahl, Minister of ‘Indian’ and Northern Affairs Canada From: Canada begins examination of abuses at church-run schools for Indians http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/31/america/NA-GEN-Canada-Indian-Schools.php “Our residential schools system was probably more systemic and more generational than even in Australia,” Strahl said. “The reason it was particularly horrible was that it lasted so long. It just didn’t happen to a group of people for a few years, this was in many cases multigenerational and the results are still being felt.” Canada’s nearly 1 million aboriginals remain the country’s poorest and most disadvantaged group.

_MUSLIM MEDIA NETWORK http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=899 The church people were worshipping the devil, not us. They wanted the gold, the coal, the land we occupied. So they terrorised us into giving it to them. How does a man who was raped every day when he was seven make anything out of his life? The residential schools were set up to destroy our lives, and they succeeded. The whites were terrorists, pure and simple. (Testimony of Bill Seward to Kevin Annett and IHRAAM observers, Duncan, BC, August 13, 1998)

_EPOCH TIMES Native Group Says Churches Holding Children's Bodies: Churches and government say no records of residential school deaths. By Joan Delaney Epoch Times Victoria Staff Apr 12, 2007http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-4-12/54008.html Many former students of the residential schools say the apologies and monetary payouts that came from the government and churches following a flood of lawsuits that began in 1996 only applied to former students who had been raped or physically abused. They say crimes of psychological abuse and murder have not been addressed, and that the government and churches have been keeping information about these crimes sealed. The churches say there are no records of any deaths in the schools, and for the most part their archives are open to the public. Church officials say Annett's allegations are groundless. But Annett says he found such death records at the Koerner Library at the University of British Columbia. "I have published them in my book, and hence they've been in public circulation since 2001. We regularly send the churches these records."
Valerie Heche, spokesperson for Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, the federal government department responsible for negotiating with the natives who attended the schools, also says there are no records of any deaths. Still, the Department of Indian Affairs is willing to "explore this issue in more detail" and meet with representatives from FRDRSC, she says.

_OTTAWA SUN April 14, 2007 Native remains lost? Destroyed files leave remains anonymous.
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2007/04/14/4013007-sun.html
The United Church of Canada says it can do little to help relatives seeking the remains of Native children buried on the grounds of Indian residential schools because identification records have been lost or destroyed. ...

_Mike Cachagee, president of the National Residential School Survivor Society, remembers the funeral of a five-year-old girl who died from tuberculosis. She was placed in a handmade box and buried in a hand-dug grave. “You had children burying children," said Cachagee.

_Sharon Thira, executive director of Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said repatriation is essential for healing. “Their spirits can't return ... They are still there and suffering," she said.


Further Reading:

Like Weeds in a Garden

Genocide, International Law & Canada's "Indian Problem"

by Pierre Loiselle

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Canada's solution to what was once casually referred to as its "Indian problem" has been a strategy of social engineering known as assimilation.

Not all of the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) made it into the Canadian Criminal Code. The following parts of Article Two, which define the crime of genocide, were omitted when the Convention was ratified and became law in 1952: "Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group" and, "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." Dr. Roland Chrisjohn, director of the Department of Native Studies at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, says that the omissions are not a coincidence. The original two omissions correspond directly to Canada's official policy of abducting Native children and keeping them in residential schools, where many were subject to gruesome and well-documented abuse and torture.

"Modern genocide is an element of social engineering, meant to bring out a social order conforming to the design of the perfect society," wrote Zygmunt Bauman in his 1989 book 'Modernity and the Holocaust.' "This is a gardener's vision... Some gardeners hate the weeds that spoil their design... Some others are quite unemotional about them: just a problem to be solved, an extra job to be done."

As Chrisjohn explains, the glitch in Canada's garden begins with the problem that, according to European law, title to most of the land in Canada still belongs to its original inhabitants.

Canada's solution to what was once casually referred to as its "Indian problem" has been a strategy of social engineering known as assimilation which began with the 1857 'Act to Encourage the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes of the Province;' its modern-day equivalent is the Indian Act. Serving as head of the Department of Indian Affairs during the development of the residential school system, Sir Duncan Campbell Scott summarized the agenda of Canadian policy towards Native people: "Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian problem."

The Genocide Convention

Rafael Lemkin, who coined the word genocide and was responsible for drafting the CPPCG, explained in 1945 that "the term does not necessarily signify mass killings... More often it refers to a co-ordinated plan aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups so that these groups wither and die like plants that have suffered a blight."

"The end may be accomplished by the forced disintegration of political and social institutions, of the culture of the people, of their language, their national feelings and their religion," Lemkin wrote in 'Genocide - A Modern Crime.'

The CPPCG went through two drafts before it was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948. Earlier versions of the Convention included means to establish an international court and many definitions reflecting the substance of genocide, including a provision that condemned forcible citizenship. These parts were removed in the final draft. According to Canada's representative at the UN, the Canadian stance was that, "a more limited interpretation of the term 'genocide' would be preferable." Objections primarily from Canada and the US eviscerated the final version of the Convention.

In his book 'The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School Experience in Canada,' Chrisjohn writes that even in its watered-down form, Canada is in violation of the CPPCG. Residential schools were run from the 1800s to the 1990s where children were removed, by force of law, from their communities and sent to institutions run by the churches.

In the words of Scott, residential schools were designed to "take the Indian out of the Indian."

Chrisjohn explains that under the CPPCG, residential schools were clearly genocidal according to Article Two, which defines genocide as: "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

"a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

"I could argue all five, but the fifth one is a slam dunk," says Chrisjohn. "There is absolutely no way Canada can deny that they legislated the transference of children from their parents to the church authorities."

On May 21, 1952, when Canada's Parliament ratified the Convention, bringing it into the Canadian Criminal Code, they omitted sections b) and e) of Article Two. A further amendment in 1985 removed section d). It was around this time when accounts of the involuntary sterilization of Native women began to surface.

"They left out three-fifths of International law," says Chrisjohn, "that specifically would make in Canadian law what they were doing to First Nations people, from 1948 until the present day, the crime of genocide."

"It's not a coincidence. This is all too convenient."

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

At first glance, a new international agreement seemed to bring about a means of holding those who commit genocide accountable.

"In the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)... there is provision for establishing International Criminal Courts in which Crimes Against Humanity could be brought to an impartial judge," Chrisjohn explains, referring to the Covenant passed in 1966 that came into force in 1976. The covenant affirmed that participating countries could not "derogate in any way from any obligation assumed under the provisions of the [CPPCG]."

"Canada couldn't allow that to happen, so in the Covenant there is a little provison..." says Chrisjohn. "That is, minority populations of a country are considered citizens of the country and when the country does something to its own citizenry, that's considered an internal matter...So a citizen cannot sue his own country in international court."

"In 1960, with nobody having asked for it, Indians were declared to be citizens of Canada. It wasn't an act of generosity. They were already working on the [ICCPR] and they wanted to make sure that the Indians wouldn't be able to go to an international court and bring a charge against the Canadian government."

"All Canadians were made 'genociders' by their government," states Chrisjohn pointing to Article Three of the CPPCG that also defines complicity in genocide as a crime. "You have a responsibility as a citizen of the world to know what your government is up to and resist [their] unlawful actions," he says. "The crime of genocide is being covered up. Now it's a double crime."

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/original_peoples/2006/10/12/like_weeds.html
http://kjrbuilders.com/?p=179