B.C. offers support to Tk’emlups te Secwépemc, opposition wants immediate action
Posted May 31, 2021 7:08 pm.
Last Updated June 1, 2021 5:48 am.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — The province is saying it will provide whatever support is needed to the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation, but has stopped short of making any formal commitments, saying leadership needs to come from Indigenous communities.
Following the announcement that the remains of 215 children were found in an unmarked grave on the site of a residential school in Kamloops, B.C. legislators addressed the tragic discovery during Question Period before observing a moment of silence.
Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin said he has spoken with Chief Rosanne Casimir to offer support to the Nation.
“Our government is committed to standing with them, but more importantly to work and take our lead from what those Indigenous nations want,” he said.
“So for example, the question about whether there would be a repatriation, or a formal reinterment of those remains that would be done only if it was consistent with the protocol that the Tk’emlups te Secwépemcpeople have in place. They have protocol for this, and any steps that we take would be done of course, following their lead.”
Asked what the province is ready to do to support other Indigenous communities that may come forward with concerns about mass graves at the sites of former residential schools, Rankin said they will similarly await a request for help.
“Through British Columbia, we have an enormous diversity and communities will vary in what they wish. How we should proceed, of course, will be a function of what they ask us to do,” he said.
Indigenous Relations Minister Rankin says BC will press Catholic church & other churches to share records that could help identify the remains of the children found at the former Kamloops Residential School. On potential reinterment, says will follow nation's lead. More @NEWS1130
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) May 31, 2021
Rankin did commit to pressing the Roman Catholic Church to provide access to records that may help identify the children.
“We will certainly press them and expect their full cooperation,” he said.
B.C. Catholic leaders offer sorrow, sympathy
The Kamloops Indian Residential School opened under Roman Catholic administration in 1890 and operated until 1969. Following the discovery of the childrens’ remains, the Bishop of the Diocese of Kamloops, Joseph Nguyen, issued a statement saying he was “heartbroken” and “horrified” by the news.
“On behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops, I express my deepest sympathy to Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation and to all who are mourning this tragedy and an unspeakable loss. No words of sorrow could adequately describe this horrific discovery,” he wrote in a statement.
“I offer assurance of my personal support, prayers and accompaniment to our First Nations in Kamloops and beyond.”
Prior to 1945, the Kamloops Indian Residential School was within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Archbishop J. Michael Miller said he was “filled with deep sadness” when he heard the children’s remains were found.
“The pain that such news causes reminds us of our ongoing need to bring to light every tragic situation that occurred in residential schools run by the Church. The passage of time does not erase the suffering that touches the Indigenous communities affected, and we pledge to do whatever we can to heal that suffering,” he said in a statement.
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Horgan says BC NDP committed to TRC Calls to Action
Earlier Monday, Premier John Horgan addressed his colleagues at the Legislature with a ministerial statement
“I rise today with a heavy, heavy heart,” he said.
“Although there were no words that could describe how that feels for survivors, words, it seems, must be spoken. Today this house has an opportunity to look back over the history — the tragic history — that is not just a moment in time, but a live history here in Canada, and here in British Columbia. Because for survivors of the residential school atrocities, they live it every day, their children are also living it, and their grandchildren are living it. It is not something that happened in the past, it is something that is going on right now.”
This is our living history. We have a responsibility to face the atrocities of residential schools head-on. pic.twitter.com/u5WLmG1UmE
— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) June 1, 2021
Horgan said his government has a responsibility to implement the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying he had already identified this as a priority.
“Many of them are in the mandate letters of ministers on this side of the house as they were in the mandate letters of the previous government. They’re there because these calls to action are not just a nice thing to do,” he said.
“This is the least — the least — we can do to try and do what we can to make amends for a period in time that lives with us to this very day.”
Horgan also cited the province’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as another move his government has made to advance reconciliation.
Opposition MLAs demand further action
Green MLA Adam Olsen, who is a member of the Tsartlip First Nation, responded by saying governments — including Horgan’s — have been too slow to make meaningful moves toward reconciliation.
“For the last several years our Crown governments and society believes that it has been doing the work of reconciliation. After all, many of these stories have already been shared by residential school survivors through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What needs to be addressed here is our response, specifically the urgency in our reaction to what has been and what is being uncovered. It’s not that we haven’t done anything. We’ve started to work. But have we really moved as quickly as you would expect after hearing these horrors?” he asked.
“The only reason to call it ‘unimaginable’ would be because these institutions, these federal and provincial governments, people who populate these chambers either haven’t been listening to our stories, or they’ve cared less.”
Olsen outlined how intergenerational trauma, ongoing discrimination, and a lack of adequate resources conspire to continue the suffering of Indigenous people in the province.
“This provincial institution continues to be responsible for unacceptable outcomes for Indigenous people,” he said.
“I wish I could say that Indigenous children are no longer forcibly removed from their communities. However, I can’t. I wish I could say that Indigenous people were not dramatically over-represented in fatalities at the hands of police, the criminal justice system, homelessness, suicide, addictions and drug poisonings — all statistics you don’t want to ever be over-represented in.”
“It’s time for the representatives in this chamber to stop saying how we can’t do this, and start finding ways that we can do it
“We must make resources immediately available for trauma and healing services. All resources needed to restore our languages, immediately available. All resources needed to restore houses of culture and governance, immediately available. It’s time for the representatives in this chamber to stop saying how we can’t do this and start finding ways that we can do it.”
3/3 The actions of past governments continue to be felt to this day, so let this serve as a reminder to elected officials and decision makers today. We must reinvigorate our commitment to reconciliation with our past, while ensuring we are not repeating history.
— Adam Olsen (@AdamPOlsen) May 28, 2021
Liberal MLA, Ellis Ross, who is a member of the Haisla First Nation, also demanded action from the premier.
Thank you for your words, and with all due respect, Now is not the time to talk about UNDRIP, or mandate letters from four years ago. It’s not time for a stump speech. This tragedy is affecting Canadians, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. People are crying put aside the politics for a second — everybody,” he said.
“There’s a multitude of children who never made it home. For most of the history of these schools, the practice was not the send the bodies of students who died at these schools to their home communities. My question: Can the premier tell us, tell the province, tell the people of British Columbia, specifically, what this government is doing to work with the 203 First Nations communities in B.C. to repatriate these children?”
Horgan replied, saying he will commit to taking “whatever steps” are necessary, and plan will be brought forth “in the coming weeks and moths.”
Emotional support or assistance for those who are affected by the residential school system can be found at Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free 1 (800) 721-0066 or 24 hr Crisis Line 1 (866) 925-4419.
