CPTnet
27 October 2007
FORT FRANCES, ON REFLECTION: Compensation, apologies and right relations
By Gene Stoltzfus
[Note: The following posting is adapted from a longer piece, " First Nations
People: Compensation and Apology" written by CPT Director Emeritus, Gene
Stoltzfus. People wishing to see the original will find it at
<http://gstoltzfus.blogspot.com/2007/10/first-nations-people-compensation-an
d.html>]
Some months after I moved to Canada in 2004, the government announced a two
billion dollar legal settlement for native people who experienced abuse
while attending government supported residential schools operated by
churches over the last century. Depending upon the number of years in school
and abuse record, individuals will receive from $10,000 to $27,000.
The inclination to use money to treat these deep wounds of abuse, the legacy
of unfair negotiations, forced assimilation and even genocide before
engaging in the cultural process of apology is evident in all of the
Americas. Those of us who are descendants of immigrants have been living in
denial and will need to walk through the pain and deception of our own
history to a new plane of truth and acknowledgement of unearned wealth and
privilege.
A little reported part of the settlement is the provision of $60 million for
a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide opportunities for former
students to speak about their Residential School experiences in a safe
environment. The spirit behind Truth and Reconciliation goes beyond charity
to that place within us where we need to reconstruct our myth of how we got
be here, occupying this land. This is not a prescription for charity or
therapy. It points us in a new direction. Lila Watson, an Australian
Aboriginal leader has wise words for all of us. "If you have come to help
me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation
is bound up in mine, then let us work together."
I participate in a Right Relations Circle here. We meet monthly to try to
reconnect with the hidden clumps of unfinished business in our own personal
and cultural history. Last spring, we met at one First Nations office. Our
spokesperson presented a formal apology to First Nations People developed by
the United Church of Canada. One person spoke movingly of the experience of
parents who had suffered from the abuses of the residential schools. She
said she would read the apology at her mother's gravesite but was not at
liberty to accept the apology at this time without thinking about it and
talking to other family members.
Our Circle now meets on a regular basis to learn more of our own ragged
history of gaining control of lands through devious promises, treaties and
resettlement schemes. We are learning to respond directly to the existing
racist culture in every day life. ("You know when 'they' get this money
they will just use it to buy drugs or alcohol," said one neighbour to me
over his fourth beer.) Without this work, we know that an apology is empty
words.
Our culture has had five hundred years of training in the language and
attitudes of disregard for First People's integrity. It takes skill to undo
old habits and moral effort to overcome them. I do not assume all the hard
work has been done just because there is a legal settlement.
_______________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, do NOT hit reply. Send
a message with only the word, "suspend," in the body to
server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.
To ask questions or express concerns, criticisms and affirmations send
messages to peacemakers@cpt.org.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
Donate to CPT on-line with your credit card! Go to
http://cpt.org/donate.php and click the DONATE button to make a
contribution through Network for Good, a secure way to help support CPT.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Nov 01 2007 - 09:00:53 EDT