Watch above: The final recommendations are out from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, all 94 of them. Joel Senick finds out what the response is from residents attending a wind-up event held in Saskatoon.
SASKATOON – The scars of residential school run deep for Helen Isbister, who was taken from her parents at the age of 6 in the 1930’s.
“I had re-learn my culture, which was very difficult, I suffered through identify crisis,” said Isbister.
“They shouldn’t have taken us away like that, as children.”
READ MORE: In their words: What residential school survivors told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Isbister was one of many residential school survivors who spent Tuesday in Saskatoon’s Victoria Park. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commemorative event was held there on the same day as a summary of its national report was released to the public.
“Today’s a day about gathering and we’re celebrating our cultures, our resilience, our strengths,” said Shirley Isbister, president of the Central Urban Métis Federation and Helen’s daughter-in-law.
The national TRC report includes 94 recommendations to the federal government that range from breaking down the potential financial barriers of post-secondary education to preserving aboriginal language.
READ MORE: Canada’s aboriginal residential school system was ‘cultural genocide,’ report says
“When you have recommendations you want them to be acted on and that’s what for myself, I hope that the federal government does,” said Shirley Isbister.
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“We need to work together to make change and to come together and partner and be able to always remember the past, but we need to move forward into the future,” she added.
Many attendees at Tuesday’s event pointed to the youth, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal, as key to mending the wounds brought upon by the residential school system.
“We’ve got a core group of people and students that’ll carry the legacy forward and learn more and teach other people as well,” said Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas.
“The young people have to listen to the stories, they have to learn,” added Helen Isbister.
“It’s good that we can understand each other and forgive each other and … start loving each other,” she said.
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