By Xavier Kataquapit This is the time of the year when Canada commemorates the Truth and Reconciliation process which was meant to address the dark period of cultural genocide created by the Indian Residential School system. The government of Canada established the residential school system through a network of church-run institutions to assimilate Indigenous children into European culture. It lasted well over a hundred years in Canada. In 2008, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by the late Chair Justice Murray Sinclair spent six years gathering testimony from survivors across the country. It was meant to record their testimony and document the truth from actual survivors of this terrible period. This process directly impacted my family and every family along the James Bay coast. Both my parents Marius and Susan… <\/p>\n
By Xavier Kataquapit This is the time of the year when Canada commemorates the Truth and Reconciliation process which was meant to address the dark period of cultural genocide created by the Indian Residential School system. The government of Canada established the residential school system through a network of church-run institutions to assimilate Indigenous children into European culture. It lasted well over a hundred years in Canada. In 2008, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by the late Chair Justice Murray Sinclair spent six years gathering testimony from survivors across the country. It was meant to record their testimony and document the truth from actual survivors of this terrible period. This process directly impacted my family and every family along the James Bay coast. Both my parents Marius and Susan... <\/p>\n