The apology yesterday went well from Harpers perspective, he did not use any weasel words, seemed sincere, even choked up a bit when speaking of children and families that were/are effected by the residential school debacle.
I particularly like the president of the Native Women's Assoc. speech, after saying she would accept the Governments apology she went on to say, "now I want something from you, RESPECT. Powerful and true words.
The overwhelming consensus in Labrador is one of more hurt and pain at being left out of the whole equation. When will they get it? It is not going away so why pretend nothing happened? It will only cost more in monitory values and as I said cause more pain for any victims of abuse in this province.
The Feds passed the money down through different entities to administer the education/ simulation of Aboriginal peoples in this province, no ifs ands or butts.
Big topic of discussion around town this morning is the fuel price freeze ends tomorrow, ouch.
5 comments:
The schools in Labrador were very much under provincial control and jurisdiction, unlike the Indian residential schools which were under very direct federal Indian Affairs control. Just by example, the decision to take Inuktitut out of the schools run by the Moravians, and go English-only, was made in 1946. Schools in Labrador were governed by churches (or the IGA) and later by the provincially-constituted denominational school boards. Pretty hard to peg that on Canada. The federal funding was used to implement PROVINCIAL policies, laws, and decisions.
The lawsuit and apology campaign is going to have to target the provincial government at least as much, if not more, than the federal one. That's not to say nothing happened, but there is a very different question of who was responsible.
It's the same reason why it was the province, not the feds, that had to apologize for the Hebron resettlement, even though federal funds were used in part for that purpose as well. Compare also PROVINCIAL apology for the Newfoundland "Chinese head tax" in 2006.
WJM, This Means we (INUIT) need to look at court action against the province and the feds. The feds funded the province, IgA and the good old moravains to run these schools that consequently also were used to strip us of our language and culture not to mention the abuse that happened in these places. The feds do have thier hands in here also not just the province or IGA or Moravians. I think it's time that this blogger and you other Nuatsiavutimiut experts get your facts right before blabbing on how much you guys help us destitute souls!
When it comes to the unique trust-like relationship between aboriginal people and the government, and when it comes to notions such as honour, fiduciary responsibility, and duty of care, there is only one Crown. I'm disappointed the feds don't just do it and get it over with. It is, after all, a gesture and a ceremony more than anything else.
The Residential Schools settlement agreement recognizes only those schools that were fully or co-funded or administered by Canada. It’s true that the residential-style schools along the coast don’t fit that description. But as in all things relating to Canada, Newfoundland, and Aboriginals, the definition itself is intended to exclude and isolate the experience of Labrador’s aboriginal peoples and obscure Ottawa’s role in the pivotal years following Confederation by reinforcing the exceptional path Newfoundland chose for aboriginal people at Union in 1949. Canada had many reasons for agreeing to that arrangement then, and regrounding it in funding agreements worked out in the 1950s:
“Generally speaking, Federal government agrees that actual administration of Indian and Eskimo affairs should be left entirely to the province for a variety of reasons—ie., lack of segregation of native population; vital part played y Northern Labrador trading operation [sic]; relatively small number of persons involved; variety of provincial facilities already in existence; furtherance of federal government’s ‘Indian Policy’ [i.e., assimilation]” (4 March 1953. Asst. Secretary to federal Cabinet. Confidential Notes on Labrador Indians and Eskimos.)
Federal bureaucrats knew perfectly well that their obligation to aboriginals extended to Labrador but sought to discharge those responsibilities with miserly funding formulas and as little effort as possible. The federal government was present in the running of the schools through absence and neglect, but in other areas (like resettlement) they retained some influence over policy. This, despite the fact that it was no secret that mandarins in Ottawa thought St. John’s incapable of administering aboriginal affairs.
(The Moravian schools, by the way, did not become English-only in 1946. Instruction at the Hebron school was still being conducted partly in Inuktitut when it was relocated in 1959. Nain and Hopedale pursued different courses based partly upon the numbers of English-speaking settler homes and the desires of the village elders to have children acquire some English, but according to the curriculum descriptions the Peacocks submitted as part of the discussion over the terms of union, some subjects were conducted in Inuktitut, others in English. This remained the case until a fully developed provincial curriculum was shoved down everyone’s throats.)
With regards to the relocation, the federal government didn't apologize because they have been able to successfully convince people that the province alone was responsible—including provincial officials.
The feds were uneasy about the immature Newfoundland administration and cautious about entering into the first funding agreements. That’s why the 1954 funding agreement under which Nutak was relocated stipulated that the federal government had to approve of capital projects on Inuit and Innu accounts. The year previously, during funding discussions, the Assistant secretary to the federal cabinet Paul Pelletier told provincial officials that any agreement would be subject to two principles:
(a.) that any direct undertaking or contribution by the Federal Government in Northern Labrador would have to be demonstrably in the interests of Indians and Eskimos; and
(b.) that nothing done federally for Northern Labrador would be likely to conflict with Indian and Eskimo policies in the rest of Canada.
(13 March 1953. Paul Pelletier, Asst. Secretary to Cabinet, to Walter E. Harris, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration).
Later, the federal Treasury Board agreed on an important principle which was in essence a policy of relocation and centralization:
The meeting discussed various types of projects that might be worth-while. It was generally agreed that no federal assistance should be given towards works at any point north of Nain. Nain will be a staging point to which the older persons from more northern points will be brought and from which the younger persons will be taken to points in the Melville Lake area where employment possibilities are much better. (28 May 1956. FAG Cunningham, Northern Affairs, to RL Andrews, Deputy Minister, Provincial Department of Welfare.)
Several other things are obvious about the federal government’s involvement: 1.) the relocation scheme grows out of a long inter-agency correspondence in which federal bureaucrats play a major role 2.) Indian Affairs officials had themselves rejected the idea of large-scale relocations by 1956-7 following the Henik Lake tragedy, yet allowed Hebron to occur 3.) federal officials were in the process of starting a model Arctic community at Killinek to which many Hebron families would have gone had they been told 4.) the actual execution of the Hebron relocation was botched (people died as a result) because the feds sat on the funding requests seemingly forever.
As I understand it, DIAND was so convinced of its lack of involvement in the relocation that they didn’t bother to get an indemnity from the reconciliation process. I think this whole period is very poorly understood.
WJM, This Means we (INUIT) need to look at court action against the province and the feds.
Absolutely. However as far as I know, and I would like more information, the proposed class action names the federal government only. Does it also name the province, or anyone else?
The feds funded the province, IgA and the good old moravains to run these schools
Yes, they did fund them to some degree. That was of course only after Confederation. But funding alone won't make one government or another liable. The funding was essentially so that the province could carry out provincial policies and apply provincial laws. Up until the 1980s, maybe even the 1990s, the province was very insistent in its view that the Aboriginal people of Labrador were treated "equally", like "equal citizens", and weren't under federal jursidiction like in other provinces or territories.
that consequently also were used to strip us of our language and culture,
If I recall correctly, the decision to replace Inuktitut in the Moravian schools with English was made in 1942 or 1946 - before Confederation in either case.
not to mention the abuse that happened in these places.
And any such abuse should be found out in court and dealt with by the law.
The feds do have thier hands in here also not just the province or IGA or Moravians.
Unlike the so-called Indian Residential Schools in other provinces, there were no federal Indian Agents rounding up native children, and it was provincial, not federal, law that was enforced in sending children to the Labrador schools. The schools were governed after Confederation by provincial school boards, with provincially-licensed teachers. The circumstance ARE different from the Indian Residential Schools, and so any recourse regarding abuse, cultural loss, etc., have to take those differences into account. Otherwise, I'd be concerned that people are being made to believe in a process that could well end up losing in court.
I think it's time that this blogger and you other Nuatsiavutimiut experts get your facts right before blabbing on how much you guys help us destitute souls!
I haven't blabbed about how any guys (who's "you guys"? helped anyone.
However, I come at this as someone who went to one of these schools himself (Yale) though not as a "dorm kid". Someone who grew up with the dorm kids and knows that there were and are some issues then and some questions to answer now. And also someone who has done a lot of digging into how the federal-provincial-Aboriginal relationships and administrative decisions have worked in Labrador.
I think this whole period is very poorly understood.
Agreed.
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