newsy bits and Residential Schools Conference

It's been an eventful few weeks!

In a few days, I will start my internship at an inner city agency that offers free counselling.  I'm pretty thrilled that this opportunity came along.  I've been applying for jobs for so long, I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I actually got one!  In a strange twist of fate, I had two back to back interviews one frosty Wednesday, and was offered both jobs by the end of the following week.  Even in the excitement, I am a bit hesitant about working again - am I ready?  Ready to be a counsellor, a helper in the lives of others when I so often feel like I'm a mess?!  If my academics, my practicum  - and my new boss's confidence - are any indication, I am ready. But still..... 

Our house in Sask. is back on the market.  Haven't decided if we're going private or with a realtor, but if you're a reader from there, and you know someone who wants a house... please, please, please get in touch with us!  We are so ready for this nightmare of home ownership to be over.  Poor folks at Flatlanders might be stuck with us until the end of time, we may never have the courage to sign another mortgage!

I spent two days this week at the Hidden Legacy Conference at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.  I hope to post more about the experience... for now, a few quotes ... 

From Dr. Gabor Mate - How many Canadians know about the tragic history of Jews in Eastern Europe? How many Canadians know about the tragic history of First Nations peoples in Canada?  Why is there such a discrepancy - why is the legacy hidden?  This is more than a discrepancy - its injustice.

From Elijah Harper, who opened his address with these words - I don't know how much I can say in one hour; it took me 10 days to just say NO! (with regard to the Meech Lake Accord) - The Residential School System apology issued by the Government of Canada was a small step - a very small step - we still have a long way to go before there is anything like equality, before we will be treated like full citizens of our country without restriction.  Because of the Indian Act, we were taught to feel inferior.  This is one part of the legacy.  But what about the Canadians who were taught that they are SUPERIOR - when is that part of the legacy going to be addressed?  Let us continue to work for real reconciliation, let us get the word out that inequality abounds in every arena.

From Dr. Cindy Blackstock - Teaching about Peter Henderson Bryce, a Canadian medical expert employed to investigate Residential Schools in 1922, whose findings resulted not only in being discredited in his field and fired from his job, but also were compiled into a document titled 'The Story of a National Crime' - the forerunner to John Milloy's Canadian Bestseller called ...  'A National Crime'.  Her message of reconciliation as 'not having to say you're sorry twice' was profound.  She was referring to the parallels between the current child welfare system and its failings and the former residential school policy.  She encouraged looking up (and registering support) these websites; Shannen's Dream, and Jordan's Principle.

From Judge Murray Sinclair - 'you need to know how to be who you are' - life-shaping wisdom from an Elder at Long Plain First Nation. And - most Canadians don't know the first thing about genuine reconciliation - how can they participate?

From Vernon White, Ottawa Chief of Police - Lets act differently if we want to make a difference. Success in the direction of reconciliation will involve risk, and likely some failure along the way.  We need to all be about helping Canadian understand in order to be genuinely working toward reconciliation.

From Dr. Lori Haskell - Deliberate destruction of culture, heritage, history, land, people, family, traditions = complex historical trauma.  The things we see all over our nation today - poverty, addiction, high incarceration, violence, crime - these can be directly linked to trauma.  

I heard other speakers, but thats enough for now.