Warning: This story details with disturbing subject matter that may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
Three days before Canada marks its first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the B.C. government has allocated $1.5 million for Indigenous-led residential school survivor supports.
The funding is part of a $12-million package announced in June to support communities grappling with the horrific unveiling of unmarked burial grounds at former residential schools sites.
The dollars allocated Monday will go toward the mental health and wellness programs of several Indigenous organizations, including the Métis Counselling Connection Program at Métis Nation British Columbia.
“It’s about having someone on the other line who’s Indigenous, who understands their lived experience,” explained Colette Trudeau, senior director of administrative services at Métis Nation BC.
“It’s working through those traumas and having appropriate supports, so in having those conversations they’re not experiencing further trauma by having someone who doesn’t truly understand.”
During the Monday announcement, Trudeau said many Canadians don’t realize Métis people attended residential schools. Her family, she added, is among those who escaped the harrowing facilities by pretending to be French-Canadian.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society will also receive a portion of the funding to add capacity to its 24/7 cultural support line, including the hiring of clinical therapists and additional counsellors.
The Tsow-Tun Le Lum Society, which is currently supporting First Nations working on former residential school sites and Indian hospitals, will receive funds to provide more in-person health and wellness options.
This Thursday, Sept. 30, Canada will mark its first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation — a statutory holiday for all federal employees and federally-regulated work places.
The holiday was sparked by the identification of unmarked burial grounds at former residential schools sites, but was one of 94 Calls to Action released by the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The B.C. government did not designate Sept. 30 as a provincial statutory holiday.
Asked about that decision on Monday, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin said consultation with the broader private sector is ongoing.
“There will be no doubt, announcements made over the next while as to how that unfolds in this province, just as is occurring across this country.”
Whether you’re working or at home on Thursday, Angela White, executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said there’s a way you can participate in truth and reconciliation.
“Take pause, take notice, do your own education, do your own research,” she advised.
“If you can, talk to an intergenerational survivor or a survivor from residential school, and be open to their story and listen.”
For decades, White said residential school survivors and their families were told “no one will believe” their stories over those testimony of priests and nuns, deepening their trauma and shame over the years.
British Columbians can also wear orange, she added, as the “smallest step” to show they acknowledge, hear and believe residential school survivors.
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society expects increased demand for its services Thursday, she said. Thirty full-time staff and 36 cultural support workers will be assigned to various organizations and events that day, both in B.C. and across the country.
“I think we’re as ready as we can be,” she said. “We also have many virtual supports that have been requested from Ontario … unfortunately we just don’t have that capacity to ensure every request is going to be met.”
Monday’s funding announcement, White added, may help reduce wait times for assistance through the society.
Canada’s residential school system was in place from the late 1800s to the mid-1990s, and sought to “eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development” of Indigenous children, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The state and church-run institutions forcibly removed more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children from their families, and placed them in schools where many were physically, sexually and spiritually abused by those charged with their care. Many were also starved as part of scientific experiments on the effects of malnutrition.
Thousands died in the harrowing system of assimilation, leading to intergenerational trauma that has had a deep and lasting impact on survivors, their children, relations and communities.
In 2015, the TRC found Canada guilty of “cultural genocide,” and to this day, governments have failed in many ways to meaningfully repair or compensate for the lasting harm.
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.