By Cathy Hird
On Tuesday June 2nd, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission will deliver its final report. For five years, the commissioners have been hearing stories of the loss and the abuse that took place in these schools. The final report will include recommendations for building a new relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in our country.

When Prime Minister Steven Harper apologized on behalf of Canada for the residential school system, this commission was established to help us live into our apology. In a moment, I will give an excerpt from that text, but first let me tell you why this matters to me.

I worked as a minister at Neyaashiinigmiing, Cape Croker. During my time there, a number of people shared with me their experience of residential school. I never asked, I never thought to ask, but these were stories that people needed to share. People spoke of the severe corporal punishment they experienced. They spoke of the pain of isolation from family and community. They smiled when they told of the small ways that they could defy the systematic attempts to rid them of Aboriginal ways and manage to hold on to pieces of their cultural heritage, their language, their identity. They wept when they stumbled to express the experience of sexual abuse.

I carry these stories, these truths. I continue to hold these people and their experience. What they shared with me changes the way I work, the way I understand the world. They have helped ground my sense of justice, peace and healing.

When the commissioners deliver their report, the people of Canada are asked to bear witness. We are asked to heed the recommendations and help ensure that our government implements them.

To learn more about the commission, its work, and the pain of the residential school experience, the website of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a place to start.

Residential schools were a key part of the Canadian government's policy of assimilation. They were structured in such a way that Aboriginal culture would be taken and European-style Canadian culture inculcated. The apology of the Canadian government acknowledged that that was not a healthy project.

However, Aboriginal people today will say that we have not yet learned that lesson. Assimilation is still the underlying goal of much government policy. We have a long way to go to live together with respect in this country. The work of this commission and the ongoing implementation of its recommendations will help heal the wounds and build a new respectful community in our country.

I found the the full text of of the Prime Minister's apology on behalf of Canada on this site. Here is an excerpt:

The treatment of children in Indian Residential Schools is a sad chapter in our history.

For more than a century, Indian Residential Schools separated over 150,000 Aboriginal children from their families and communities.....Two primary objectives of the Residential Schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal..... Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.

...Most schools were operated as "joint ventures" with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United Churches. The Government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities. Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed. All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities. First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools. Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home.

The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian Residential Schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language. While some former students have spoken positively about their experiences at residential schools, these stories are far overshadowed by tragic accounts of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect of helpless children, and their separation from powerless families and communities.

When the United Church apologized first for its lack of respect for aboriginal spirituality and then for the specific actions in residential schools, a new relationship with Aboriginal peoples within the church became possible. I hope that Canadians will attend to the final report of the commission and as a country take another step on the path to respect, healing and reconciliation.

Cathy Hird is a farmer, minister and writer living near Walters Falls