Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I was very happy to hear that our government took the initiative to comment on the events that occurred last week with the apology to residential school victims and survivors that was given by the Prime Minister of Canada. It was very timely, and the feedback over the last ten days of so has led me to believe that…. It was something that was long overdue. It was something that was needed to be heard by all the people who went to residential schools.
I, too, spent many, many years in the residential school system. When I gave my Member’s statement last week, I have to admit I was overtaken by emotion. When something like that happens to you, you think back, and all the emotions kind of flow back to you. That’s what happened, and I’m sure that happened to many, many people across Canada and throughout our Northwest Territories.
I do believe that the words were sincere. The words had to be heard in order for healing to begin. In order to forgive, there’s got to be an apology. I think that’s what happened. Once you begin the forgiveness process…. In my healing journey, forgiveness doesn’t happen overnight. I believe you’ve got to keep forgiving and forgiving, and then it becomes easier. The impact of traumatic events that happened to individuals or people or families is never really forgotten. Once you begin the healing process and you hear the words “I’m sorry” and you do want to forgive, you can move on. You can get past that and then start concentrating on yourself — take that event that happened last week and make it a positive for yourself and for your family. I believe that’s the direction we want to go.
It’s a huge impact. It’s like a hundred years old. That’s how long this — I want to say — oppression happened, and that’s pretty well what it was. Once you get involved in that kind of system, those kind of oppressive states…. Someone I met somewhere along the way — I think it might have been somebody from this House — likened it to the prison camps during the war. The word I heard when I was growing up was “subjugation.” Subjugation is kind of like when you have a bug and you put it under your thumb. That’s where you keep that bug, and the bug’s squirming and doing pretty well what you want. To me, that’s what the residential school meant. I went there very, very young, and people all around me — all those people in authority — they were telling me what to do. It affected me throughout my whole life.
It’s not only me. This story was repeated 80,000 times throughout Canada, because that’s how many survivors are left to this day, and the countless others who have passed on. But it’s not only the survivors that it impacts. I was talking with a school principal about four or five years ago, and the principal said our children in our schools today are behaving like they actually went to a residential school, but we know they didn’t. That’s because behaviours from parents or from the community…. It’s instilled and it’s pervasive; it’s there. Those are the skills that.… That’s how we learn. We learn from things around us. So that impact is still there. It changed our lives wholly.
The Prime Minister spoke of an intergenerational gap. That’s there. My story is that too. I went there. My grandparents passed away, so I lost a big connection. There was a whole generational gap there. That’s huge, because that affects your language and your culture.
Just in summarizing, Mr. Chair, I just wanted to say it was appropriate that we spoke on it. Many, many Members on this side of the House — our government, where we are the government …. We spoke, and we understand our people. I’m happy to hear that we’ll provide as much support as we can in order to begin this healing process, and I wish everybody well.
As well, that day was very, very emotional. It’s a signal that people are ready to let go and move on. We, as a government, I believe, have always been ready and willing to help. I urge the government to continue to provide the resources to do so, because there’s still a long way to go in terms of providing a healing ring for our communities and our families out there today. So with that, thank you very much, Mr. Chair.