MLA Linda Larsen needs to understand that not everything is about cynical partisan politics. Local First Nations have every reason to be insulted by Larson’s ill informed and insensitive remarks last week on the legacy of residential schools.
Larson acknowledges that what happened with the residential schools was an absolute tragedy with continuing horrible consequences. Unfortunately, however, the questions she asked in her role as chair of the Select Standing Committee on Health suggest that she is waiting for the memories of these human rights atrocities to be “burned out” of the minds of First Nations people.
Larson’s remarks have been rightly condemned by Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the BC Union of Indian Chiefs as “absolutely inappropriate, ill informed and quite frankly incredibly ignorant.” Similarly, Chief Jonathan Kruger of the Penticton Indian Band made it clear that the legacy of the residential schools can never be allowed to fade.
No intelligent person with any understanding of Canadian history or of the process of reconciliation with our aboriginal people is waiting for the legacy of the residential schools to fade. Just as with the Holocaust, memories of the residential schools must be preserved to honour the victims and to learn from the past. This is fundamental and in her elected role as a policy maker it is crucial that Mrs. Larson understand this.
A recognition of the lasting effects of the residential schools, which forcibly separated generations of aboriginal youth from their language and culture, and denied their parents of the fundamental human right to parent their children, is fundamental to the process of reconciliation. It needs to be understood that the current failure of policies to improve aboriginal health and educational outcomes is a direct result of the physical and mental abuse that was part of the residential school experience.
Mrs. Larson seems totally uninformed about the work and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which made several thoughtful and considerable recommendations related to the preservation of the memory of the residential schools. In its call to action, the commission suggested that the history of residential schools be preserved in local museums and archives, embedded in school curricula and enshrined in a National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
Reconciliation with our First Nations requires respect, including a respect for the inalienable right of aboriginal people to know the truth about what happened and with respect to the human rights violations committed to them in the residential schools.
Rather than play politics with this issue, Larson needs to acknowledge the inappropriateness of her remarks and immediately apologize to Chief Kruger and Grand Chief Phillips and the rest of her aboriginal constituents.
Al Hudec, Oliver
