LOCAL EVENTS - CANADIAN POLITICS:

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION HEARINGS BEGIN:

Appropriately enough the public events for Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission have begun here in Winnipeg, the aboriginal capital of Canada and perhaps of all of North America polar to the Rio Grand. Winnipeg's native population numbers about 68,380 according to Stats Can as of 2007. This is probably an slight underestimate, but it still places the aboriginal population as about 10% of the city. Having lived here for over a quarter of a century I think this is about the right percentage. This is greater in absolute numbers than many other larger cities such as Vancouver and Edmonton which also have substantial numbers of aboriginal people. There are smaller centres such as North Battleford (18%) and Prince Albert (about 33%), both in Saskatchewan where the percentage of aboriginals is greater than that of Winnipeg, but Winnipeg amongst so-called 'major cities' holds pride of place as the city where the "native fact" is the greatest even though the native presence in western Canada is much more obvious generally.

The events of the first hearing of the T&RC at the Forks here in Winnipeg have drawn large crowds despite weather that has been less than clement to say the least. They have garnered extensive press coverage locally and even nationally. For those interested in general news coverage I suggest that they go to the websites of the Winnipeg Free Press and the Winnipeg Sun. For myself I would like to explore, at least briefly, some of the issues behind these events and compare and contrast them to the situation in other countries. I do this with full understanding that I may make grievous mistakes in describing the situation outside of Canada, and I hope that readers from any country mentioned will see fit to correct me if I make too egregious an error.

To begin with the very title of the event seems to be borrowed from the South African context and their own 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission'. The way in which these two settler societies dealt with their indigenous populations were dramatically different, but the 'Canadian way' was similar if not identical to that which took place in the USA and Australia. In South Africa the Boer ruling class essentially "gave up" on the idea of assimilation of what was, after all, the vast majority of the country's population, and even if they constructed their apartheid state by imitation of the Canadian, American and Australian reservation system they never made serious attempts at cultural genocide. In CAA (Canada, America, Australia) various 'do-gooders' took upon themselves the task of "civilizing" the native population ie abolishing them as an identifiable group. To my understanding in Australia this effort was mainly directed towards what they called "half-castes" there ('half breeds' in Canada) while hoping that the aboriginals out in their reserves would gradually become extinct.

The South African commissions are also markedly different from those now being held in Canada in that they are being held in the context of the victory on the part of the majority of the population relatively recently after a successful armed (partially) struggle. They are almost exclusively concerned with events of the last few decades while the Canadian hearings will be concerned with events that extend back to the 1800s and which concern a minority of the population whose armed struggles were defeated in the 19th century. The interesting, and perhaps controversial thing to those outside of Canada (and even to many Canadians), is that the 'death toll' of Canada's residential schools is probably far greater than that of the armed struggle in South Africa, and most of the dead were innocent children on the 'losing side'. YES, the death toll from the Canadian system exceeds by a large number what might actually be termed as "war", and all the victims were innocents.

So how to view the present hearings ? There are similarities between the native experience and that of all of us who endured Catholic schools even if we weren't native. The methods of "discipline" that many people endured (I include myself here) have shown up documented as military torture methods in later years. One might be tempted to view the 'native case' as special pleading, a view that is held by many in Canada. On the other hand those of us who endured the religious school system had certain advantages over the native children. First of all we were not kidnapped and flown to a prison where the jailers spoke a foreign language and insisted that we speak in within days of arrival. Whatever the brutality that we were subjected to which was little different from that that native children endured we at least went home at the end of the day and there was no opportunity for murder. Murder !! That is the only way that many of the things that happened in residential schools could be described.

According to a reference on the Wikipedia site on the Indian Residential Schools it was noted as early as 1909 that the death rate in these schools varied from 35% to 60%. As time went on this rate declined, but it was still horrendous in the 20th century until the schools were finally closed. A lot of this was because the conditions in the schools were very much optimum for the transmission of infectious disease. Group housing in dormitories where the space between beds was two feet for instance. In his 1909 report and in his subsequent book Dr. Peter Bryce claimed that such a situation was actually deliberate. Personally I doubt this given my knowledge of the Roman Catholic Church where brutality is an accepted method but extermination is to be avoided. One dead child equals one less proselytizer in the future. Ignorance and sadism (things that I noted were almost universal amongst Catholic clerics that I had the misfortune of coming in contact with in my childhood ) are totally adequate explanations, and 'conspiracy' does not have to be invoked.

So how to view the present hearings. There are some such as Kevin D. Arnett whose writings are reproduced at the Porkupine Blog who view these hearings entirely negatively. What Kevin sees in these hearings is an "opportunity" to absolve the guilty, and what he says has a certain validity. YES, one of the purposes of such hearings is definitely to "put the issue to rest". On the other hand the hearings will give victims the only opportunity that they will ever have to present what actually happened to the general Canadian public. All that I can say here is that the actual guilty individual parties are mostly dead by now, and that the presentation is much more important than a futile attempt to bring the guilty to justice. YES, this includes the guilty Church organizations. Their liability has been pretty much settled by now.

What I consider important in these hearings is that the full evil of what was done to native children be thoroughly exposed to the general public, and I think that these hearings are a good forum to do that. This exposure can have great positive benefits in the long term as Canada tries to come to terms with its native peoples, and it can promote proper public understanding of the best ways to deal with this legacy. YES, nothing will immediately result from the hearings, but they present an opportunity to change views that will have long term consequences.

As a conclusion to this sad tale everybody should note that the designers and the operators of the residential school system were firmly convinced beyond tha shadow of a doubt that they were "doing good". This sort of result should serve as a cautionary reminder to reformers and revolutionaries of all sorts of the inevitable 'law of unintended consequences' that plagues all human action.

Here are a few references for those who are interested in this issue:

1)Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada http://www.trc.ca/ The official site centred here in Winnipeg.

2)Indian Residential School Survivors http://irss,ca/

3)National Residential School Survivors Society http://www.nrss.ca/

4)Assembly of First nations History of Residential Schools http://www.afn.ca/residentialschools/hiostory.html

5)CBC History of the Residential Schools http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/16

6)Wikipedia History of the Residential Schools http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian-Indian-residential-school-system

RELIGION- IRELAND:

JUSTICE FOR THE MAGDALENE SURVIVORS:

Canadians might be forgiven for thinking that our residential schools atrocities are unique, and in some ways they are. The plan to eliminate native cultures by the government turning over "care" of the children to various religious boarding schools was unique in that it was premeditated plan of cultural genocide. From that point forward, however, the methods employed by the various churches were hardly confined to aboriginal Canadians. Canada has had a hint of this by such scandals as the Mount Cashel boys in Newfoundland and the 'Dupleissis Orphans' in Québec. It is , however, in Ireland where the Church was nigh to omnipotent that the largest number of new atrocities are coming to light. The Catholic Church sex scandals are now receiving more and more press across Europe, but the Irish case is special. It gives proof to the presumption that religious sects are benign only insofar as they are powerless, and the more powerful they become the more they grow into evil.

One of the scandals rocking the Irish Church is that of the 'Magdalene Laundries'. These were originally touted as "houses of refuge" for so-called "fallen women" ie anyone who got pregnant without the clergy taking its financial cut. What they were in fact were brutal workhouses, and the financial profit that the nuns who ran them made from their inmates - slave labour in all but name- was so delicious that they began expanding their catchment (a modern slave trade) more and more widely. Conditions were atrocious. Pay for the labour was non-existent. Promised education never happened. And just like some residential schools in Canada the nuns had a habit (pun intended) of burying those who died in their "care" as quietly as possible (see article below).

Survivors of these workhouses have banded together to demand an apology and redress from both the Irish state and the Church. The basic story of the Justice for Magdalenes is told below in the article from the Care2 site. The story of these unfortunate victims of organized religion was told in the 2002 film 'The Magdalene Sisters'. Also, lest anyone think that such atrocities are solely the purview of the Roman Catholic Church (they certainly weren't in Canada's residential schools), top article for today at the Justice for Magdalenes website is a memorial for 40 babies buried in unmarked graves in a Dublin cemetery, victims of a protestant residential school.

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Justice For Magdalene Survivors
posted by: Megan Susoeff 3 days ago

For decades, women and children endured abuse and poor labor conditions in Ireland's Magdalene Laundries. The laundries were originally institutions for "fallen women," but they soon grew to include developmentally challenged women and abused girls.

Although there is nothing we can do to take back what happened, survivors and their loved ones are pushing for Irish government officials to formally apologize and recognize survivors of the Magdalene Laundries. This Care2 petition asks that people worldwide add their signature, demanding justice for survivors.

Member of Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), Mari Steed, was kind enough to answer a few questions for us:

What is the main goal of Justice for Magdalenes?

Justice for Magdalenes primary goals are (i) to bring about an official apology from the Irish State and the Catholic Church and (ii) the establishment of a distinct redress scheme for survivors of Ireland's infamous Magdalene Laundries.


How long have you been fighting for this cause?

Justice for Magdalenes sprang from a group founded in 1993 (Madalen Memorial Committee) after the discovery of 155 buried bodies at High Park Convent, Dublin. We actively formed around 2000, with individuals from the Irish adoption community, taking over the reins from the original MMC founders, Patricia McDonald, Bláthnaid Ní Chinnéide and Margo Kelly. In one shape or another, our core committee has been working on this issue in an advocacy capacity for some 12 years.

Does it affect you or anyone you know personally?

Yes, several of us on the committee have mothers who spent time in the Laundries. My mother worked for 10 years doing intricate sewing (embroidery, etc.-- the hand-smocked dresses, tablecloths sold for commanding prices in Dublin and even at places like Harrod's in London, and to the American tourism market) at the Waterford laundry, St. Dominick's.


Our mothers also experienced the mother-baby homes of Ireland, which although not as bad as the Laundries and at least regulated by the State, were no walk in the park.

What are your hopes for this petition?

We hope to bring a loud global voice and pressure to bear on Prime Minister Cowen (and members of his government) to stop waffling and provide clear leadership on this issue. We want him to legislate/pass our draft redress proposal and provide justice for these women, as the government did for survivors of residential institution abuse under the terms of the 2002 Redress Act.

Although JFM has had very successful and productive meetings with the departments of Education, Justice and Health, along with the formation of an ad hoc committee, we still continue to hear back-sliding from these departments who were complicit in remanding girls and women to Laundries.
Is there anything else you want readers to know about this cause?

This is very much an international human rights issue. The Irish diaspora is, as we know, quite large. And there is every likelihood that somewhere in the world there is a first- or second-generation Irish citizen whose mother, granny, auntie, sister or other female relations may have spent time in the Laundries (including members of the Irish government!)

There is also a common misconception that the Laundries are a relic of the distant past. Not so -- the last laundry closed its doors in 1996 and there are many living Magdalene survivors, a good number of whom are now in elder care, still with the nuns for whom they worked.


Those not still in the care of the nuns tried to make their own way in the world. But they still bear the scars of their incarceration: failed relationships (as they are unable to trust or build bonds with others), lack of education (they were performing slave labour when they should've been getting an education), lack of financial support (most have no family to turn to or were spurned by their families) and a general institutional scarring that's left many unable to cope in 'outside' society. And of course, in many cases, there was physical, sexual and mental abuse which has never been properly dealt with or healed.

TAKE ACTION

Very few survivors have computer skills or access to the Internet, but you can sign this Care2 petition to honor those who cannot add a signature themselves.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to this link to add your voice to the following petition to Brian Cowen, the Irish Taolseach (equivalent of Prime Minister- loosely translated from Irish Gaelic as "great green cheese") demanding justice for the Magdalene survivors.
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Leadership needed on Magdalene Laundries

Target:An Taoiseach of Ireland, Mr. Brian Cowen.

Sponsored by: Justice for Magdalenes.

Urge Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen to call for State acknowledgment of its complicity in remanding women and children to Magdalene Laundries, and to (i) offer an official apology to and (ii) establish a distinct redress scheme for victims and survivors of these abusive institutions. We also have a direct e-mail form which can be sent to An Taoiseach at http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/an_taoiseach.htm .

Dear Taoiseach,


We, the undersigned, as concerned global and Irish citizens, write to you to appeal for justice and to add our voices to the call for Irish State acknowledgment of its complicity in remanding women and children to Magdalene Laundries. We urge you to (i) offer an official apology to and (ii) establish a distinct redress scheme for victims and survivors of these abusive institutions.


Your recent assertion that there is a distinction between "children in the residential institutions" and "women in [Magdalene] laundries" is appalling in the extreme. Justice for Magdalenes has proven beyond doubt that there were children in the Magdalene laundries. The Department of Education acknowledged its awareness of this fact when Justice for Magdalenes met with senior officials on 2 February 2010. Your response signals the State's primary concern is to limit liability with respect to anticipated claims for compensation. You and your government should be focused on providing justice for women and children denied their constitutional rights. Do you believe that the State, and in particular the Department of Education, did not have a moral and Constitutional obligation to protect every child from the exploitative work conditions in the laundry institutions?


We urge you to pursue the cause for justice for these women and children, to cease trying to pass the burden solely on the religious orders that ran these institutions, and to exert the utmost pressure on those same orders to also find, as Cardinal Sean Brady himself promised, a 'just solution' for these citizens, whose rights were so grievously violated.


To do less brings shame on yourself, Ireland's government and the nation as a whole.

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS:

ABORIGINAL MEMORIAL SERVICE OUTSIDE THE VATICAN:

Well, I'll be damned (some say this is very likely); he did it and he got away with it. Reverend Kevin Annett, formerly of the United Church, held the memorial service just outside the Vatican for native victims of the Roman Catholic residential schools, and it went off without a hitch. I don't know what I was expecting. Perhaps a sudden flinging open of a sacristy door with Sergeant Furius Sanctus and his Gregorian Chanting Commandos (part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Joint Task Force) storming out, flanked by Pope Rottweiller's personal pack of Dobermans. Nope, as I said, without a hitch.

Anyways, here's the story from a Facebook site, 'The Largest Native Facebook Group'. It may indeed live up to its name, as it seems to have 29,620 members. I find it strange, however, that a Facebook group emanating from here in Winnipeg is hosted by Facebook Sweden !!! I'm sure there is a reason; it's just that I can't comprehend it. The items at the site , however, are all in English. The plan for this service was reported earlier at this blog. For regular updates on what is happening with Kevin Annett see either his site or the Porkupine Blog from which the first item was taken.

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Breaking News: Memorial Service for the Murdered Residential School Children, and a Symbolic Exorcism Rite, conducted outside the Vatican today:

Rome, Italy

Sunday October 11, 6 pm local time

The first public memorial service ever held in Rome for the victims of Catholic Indian Residential Schools was conducted today outside the Vatican shortly after Pope Joseph Ratzinger spoke to a gathered crowd.

Held across from St. Peter's Square, the service was officiated by Reverend Kevin Annett of Canada's Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared. Rev. Annett was commissioned by families of the dead and aboriginal elders in Vancouver to hold the service and bring the truth of the Vatican's role in the genocide of native people to the very place where that crime was planned.

Rev. Annett said prayers for the dead and scattered on the pavement in front of the Vatican water and soil from the site of a mass grave at a Catholic Indian Residential school in Canada.

"The cries of the murdered children have reached the heavens, and call out for justice" Rev. Annett declared, before media cameras.

"Let all wayward spirits depart forever from this place, so that the truth may be laid bare for all to see."

The service proceeded undisturbed, despite the presence of numerous police and Vatican security forces nearby. ( Brrr...big thugs packing heat with Roman collars-Molly )

Rev. Annett also conducted a symbolic exorcism during the service, aimed at what he termed the "spirit of anti-Christ and worldliness" that rules the Vatican. To the Pope and Cardinals who gathered on the Vatican steps, Rev. Annett declared,

"May the Christ of compassion awaken your hearts to what you have become and how your church is a worldly captive and a murderer of the innocent ... Let all lies and darkness leave this place. Let anti-Christ depart from here, and may the last be first, and the first last."

Rev. Annett splashed sacred water from the land near a residential school on the pavement in front of the Vatican three times as he spoke, and then scattered soil from a mass grave at the same school to the winds, saying,

"We lay these elements of the murdered Indian children to rest, here where their murder was planned, so that their spirits may always be a witness against the Lie that poses as the church of Christ. May their little souls find eternal peace, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust."

Rev. Annett concluded the service with a simple benediction:

"May we continue to offer our lives for the helpless and for justice, in the name of the living Christ who said, Whatever you did to the least of my people, you did to me. Amen."

The memorial service, and Rev. Annett's campaign to expose religious genocide in Canada, will be reported this week in several Italian newspapers and TV media, the links to which will appear on his website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org .

Rev. Annett conducted the service as part of a month long speaking tour he is conducting in Europe. He will be speaking to several dozen communities in Italy, England and Ireland, and screening his award-winning documentary film on genocide in Canadian residential schools, UNREPENTANT.

For more information, contact Kevin Annett and The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared at this email. (Molly Note- The email address was missing in the original post. I presume you can communicate via the 'Hidden From History' website )

Note: The soil used in this memorial service was obtained with the blessing and permission of some of the aboriginal families whose relatives lie in the mass grave in question. In the words of one of the elders who authorized this event, Chief Louis Daniels of the Anishinabe Nation,"Kevin Annett has the permission of my clan and nation to conduct any kind of service or public event needed to bring the truth and the children home." (July 8, 2009)

Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Film Trailer to Kevin's award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8HB5cbKHDU&feature=related

“Kevin is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than many who have received it in the past.”

- Dr. Noam Chomsky

Institute Professor Emeritus

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“A courageous and inspiring man." (referring to Kevin Annett)

- Mairead Corrigan-Maguire

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Belfast , Northern Ireland

"As a long time front line worker with the Elders' Council at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, I stand behind what Kevin Annett is trying to do for our people. The genocide that continues today and which stemmed from the residential schools needs to be exposed. Kevin Annett helps break the silence, and brings the voice of our people all over the world."

Carol Muree Martin - Spirit Tree Woman

Nisgaa Nation

"I gave Kevin Annett his Indian name, Eagle Strong Voice, in 2004 when I adopted him into our Anishinabe Nation. He carries that name proudly because he is doing the job he was sent to do, to tell his people of their wrongs. He speaks strongly and with truth. He speaks for our stolen and murdered children. I ask everyone to listen to him and welcome him."

Chief Louis Daniels - Whispers Wind

Elder, Turtle Clan, Anishinabe Nation

Winnipeg, Manitoba

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS:

SHOW US THE GRAVES:

It's not a good time for the Catholic hierarchy in Canada. Just as it seemed that they were putting the sex abuse and residential schools scandal behind them they have once more had to go into damage control mode as the arrest of the ex-Bishop of Antigonish, Raymond Lahey, on charges of importing child pornography brought all the dirty linen into the open once more. Lahey is presently out on bail and is staying at the priests' residence of the Archbishopric of Ottawa. In the wake of the scandal the clergy are pulling out the "we are all in this together", but a growing tide of revelations about Lahey's time as a Newfoundland priest, his tastes in porn even back then and a possible cover-up on the part of Church's authorities give grounds to suspect that the clergy have an inner and outer "we". The inner 'we" seem to have possibly involved in a cover-up concerning his tastes, as alleged by Billy and Shane Earle who, at the time, were boys who had been abused at the Mount Cashel orphanage. It also turns out that at least one priest suspected Lahey, but that the hierarchy did nothing to investigate his suspicions. Meanwhile yet more people who allege that they were abused by priests when they were young are cropping up. To follow this story go to THIS AGGREGATOR.

In this climate Kevin Annett, author of 'Hidden From History' which documented much of Canada's shameful history of native residential schools, is travelling in Europe where he is showing his film 'Unrepentant'. This Sunday (tomorrow) Annett will be holding a memorial service just outside the Vatican for the victims of Roman Catholic run residential schools. This is right under the nose of Pope Rottweiller I. In Europe, outside of Ireland, this story has been slower to develop than in North America. Perhaps this has been because the Church there has been better at cover-up. See this Wikipedia article for a rundown on the scale of the scandal across the Atlantic. In the case of Italy there is no "supposition". It is a fact that the Vatican has been engaged in efforts to keep any such allegations secret. This is aided by the fact that the Vatican and Italy have treaties that transfer authority over such charges to the Church. In 2001 the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordered that all sex abuses cases be transferred to the Vatican. They had previously been handled at the level of the Dioceses. said Cardinal, as the Vatican Secretary of State also ordered that there be total secrecy about the proceedings. This was backed up with the threat of excommunication for anyone privy to such things should they they feel a sudden surge of conscience and speak out. Cardinal Ratzinger is, of course, the present Pope Rottweiller I. This is the man who Kevin Annett will be asking to come clean. Here's the story of Annett's pilgrimage from Larry Gambone's Porkupine Blog.

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Pope Asked To Identify Children's Grave Sites:
Canadian clergyman to ask Pope to identify grave sites and pray with him for those killed by the Catholic church
A clergyman from Canada who helped to force the Pope to issue an apology for the harm suffered by Indian children in Catholic boarding schools will hold a memorial service for those who died in these schools outside the Vatican on the Via Della Conciliazione at 12 noon on Sunday, October 12. He will also be asking the Pope to tell the world where these children are buried.

Rev. Kevin Annett, an award-winning film maker and activist from Vancouver, Canada, wrote to the Pope in February of 2008 on behalf of hundreds of aboriginal families whose relatives died or were killed in Catholic Indian schools. Annett asked the Pope to surrender the remains of these children and identify those responsible for their deaths. The Pope did not reply.

Annett will be asking for an official response from the Vatican to the letter and has invited the Pope to attend the memorial service, "in memory of those killed in the name of Christendom" .

Rev. Annett will be on a speaking tour of Italy from October 9 to 19. He will screen his award-winning film UNREPENTANT with Italian subtitles at public meetings in Rome, Genoa, Firenze, Milan and Parma. He has asked Italians to boycott the 2010 Olympics in Canada until the residential school children are given a proper burial.

Rev. Annett will also be speaking in England and Ireland during October and November.
For more information, contact Kevin Annett at http://ca.mc1105.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.ca .

His website is http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/ .

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS/LOCAL EVENTS-WINNIPEG:

INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS , HEALING AND RECONCILIATION:

Despite Steven Harper's "apology" in the House of Commons last year the record of Canada's genocidal residential schools remains a hot topic. This coming Wednesday, February 4, Elijah Harper (no relation) will be speaking on the topic at the University of Winnipeg. Here's the announcement.

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*Indian Residential Schools, Healing and Reconciliation*

Elijah Harper
Host:
Aboriginal Governance Program
Type:
Education - Lecture
Time and Place
Date:
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Time:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:
Convocation Hall, Wesley Hall, University of Winnipeg
Street:
515 Portage
City/Town:
Winnipeg, MB


Description
Renowned Aboriginal leader and activist Elijah Harper will be on campus February 4, 2009 to give a public address devoted to the topic of Indian residential schools, healing and reconciliation. The University of Winnipeg's Aboriginal Governance program is presenting the evening as part of its Speakers Series and the public is invited to attend. There is no admission fee.

In 1990, while sitting as an opposition member in the Manitoba Legislature, Harper blocked the Canadian constitutional amendment known as the Meech Lake Accord. He cited the lack of adequate participation and recognition of Aboriginal people in that process. Later that year,he won the Stanley Knowles Humanitarian Award - the same presented to Nelson Mandela of South Africa. He was then voted as the Newsmaker of the Year in Canada for 1990 by the Canadian Press.

*One of the great national issues in Canada is the place of Aboriginal peoples in our collective vision of our country, and the question of healing and reconciliation,* said Paul Chartrand, Director of the Aboriginal Governance Program at U Winnipeg. The views of Elijah Harper on the Residential Schools question are not only timely in light of current developments, but also significant for the insights evoked by his unique experience and the trademark charisma of his delivery and presentation.*

Elijah Harper speaks:

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

7:00 pm

Convocation Hall

2nd floor, Wesley Hall, 515 Portage Avenue

Harper is the former Chief of Red Sucker Lake First Nation (1978 -1981) and Manitoba MLA, Rupertsland Riding (1981 - 1992). As Minister of Northern Affairs he set up the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry which included the J.J. Harper and Helen Betty Osborne cases.

Harper is an activist, promoting human and Aboriginal rights, a registered lobbyist/consultant/advisor to Aboriginal organizations, a public speaker, and is involved in charitable work with World Vision in Tanzania, Kenya and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Access detailed information about UWinnipeg*s Aboriginal Governance Program at http://ag.uwinnipeg.ca/

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL:

Once more down memory lane. When she was 13 Molly's father retired and we moved in from the country to "beautiful" Regina, Saskatchewan. Culture shock big time. It didn't take two weeks for poor little Molly to witness (but not participate in) her first gang fight in the parking lot of a nearby Safeway. Rather impressive to a country kid. Molly adjusted well enough to her new surroundings. As a country kid she was rather shocked by what she saw, but she had the advantage of good ol' country livin' that made her at least twice as strong as her size allowed. It took a long time for dissipated living to reduce the original genetic and early environmental advantage with which I was gifted. One of my first actions was to deliberately pick a fight with the scariest bully in the neighbourhood. He got in more punches; so he won on points, but if the fight had continued more than the hour it did I would have won because of endurance. From there on in I could cruise on rep. It helped to carry a knife.

When I first moved to the city I was exposed to the tender mercies of a 'catholic school' whose methods of discipline included manners of torture that are part of military interrogation across the world. Lean against a wall on one finger of each hand. Not too difficult for the first few seconds. If you slack,however, you get whacked across the back. As the minutes drag on circulation in the two index fingers becomes compromised. Lawsuits about lost fingers were rare as the kids usually accepted the beatings across the back rather than the pain from the fingers. Trust me; try it and you won't like it. The stretch to a point above your ability was a similar torture with the same incentive of flagellation if you failed. To this day this is why Molly believes every story about abuse in residential schools when the story is told by an ordinary Indian. She saw it and felt it in her own body. She has her doubts when the stories are conveyed through the dishonest chiefs, but the experience of the ordinary person in a residential school was even more horrendous than anything that Molly saw- which was bad enough.

In high school Molly had the misfortune (or fortune if you will) of being a "red diaper baby" and reading the Communist Manifesto at the age of 13. This meant that she was a Marxist for a few years until she grew up. Marxism is a religious response for many Catholics who see the evil inherent in the institutional Church but are unprepared to abandon religious ways of thinking totally. One religion substitutes for another. Needless to say I was not popular amongst the Jesuit teachers at the high school that I attended. My "rep" prevented them from manipulating the rich kids to attack me so they had to do the dirty work themselves. They did it very well.

One instance involved,unfortunately, the first honest priest I had ever met in my life, Father Brady. Brady was actually a decent man. He had a thing going with one of the nuns teaching across the field at the catholic girls' school. They used to meet in the dead of night to hump in the field. Later both him and her left holy orders and got married. Anyways, I was being my usual assholeish self in his Latin class, and he decided to try and make it somebody else's problem by sending me to the principal, a priest named Boyle. Now Boyle was not perverse. He was merely an ordinary nasty clerical fascist. He knew where he was. His type would sanction mass killings in places like Franco's Spain but would refuse to countenance torture. The ideal Jesuit, logical and clean. Brady expected a mere interrogation and intimidation session with two punches at worst. What he didn't know was that Boyle was not there. The vice principal McCardle was. This was one sick puppy, and the likes of him was one of the reasons why Brady eventually left the priesthood (sex aside). McCardle was a sexual sadist who loved inflicting physical pain. His desires couldn't even be confined to the ever present opportunities for "discipline" afforded by a Catholic school. He used to prowl the halls to grab students by the nerves in their shoulders and bring them down to their knees by his version of the Vulcan nerve pinch. Try it and see how painful it is. Ha,ha,ha.

So Molly waltzes in to the principal's office and, "oh shit" it's this demon. Here we go. Hold em out. This bugger had a really enthusiastic way of applying "the strap" to your hands. He'd actually jump up in the air to get the maximum swing to the leather. Now Molly has to more or less apologize to her genteel "politically correct" audience here as the words that follow are those that went through her mind at the time. They also go through the mind of everyone subjected to such treatment anywhere who has the determination to withstand it. Only the language varies. The meaning is the same.

The strap came down again and again. Molly didn't move one inch. The flesh parted. The blood spurted. The wounds got bigger and bigger. In Molly's mind the following words came over and over,

"Do your worst you dirty cocksucker. I won't flinch no matter what you do. You are a dirty bastard. I hate your guts. I'll get my revenge some day, but I won't give you any satisfaction now you filthy cock sucking bastard. "

Well Molly withstood it, and eventually the demon grew tired of tearing her hands apart. Back to Brady's class. Walk in dripping blood like Jesus come down from the cross from her hands. Brady is beside himself to apologize, explaining that he thought that Boyle was in his office. Molly grunts in too much pain to appreciate the apology or to think period. One more step.Just one more step.I've seen other situations like this in my life in much more serious circumstances. The class is dismissed. Brady has one more thing to think about as he plans to exit the Jesuits.

Then there was the story of Father John Toth- hopefully presently frying in the circle of Dante's Infierno reserved for the wrathful. This was an interesting animal as he was the "original" for every leftist's dream of those who oppose their sexual ideal. Very few people who disagree with leftism's ideology of "homophobia" actually conform to the cartoon version but Toth did. To say the least he was an annoyance as at least 1/2 of every class that he taught was devoted to two subjects. One was "the commies are out to get your mind"- interesting as I was a commie at that time (the foolishness of youth). The other was "be a man".

This was particularly bizarre as Toth was a great closet queen in the tradition of Elizabeth I . One of his favourite occupations was to cruise the hallways and fondle the bums of students with a great grin on his face. Even his clerical robe couldn't always hide the hard-on. Let us say that Molly never gave him a hard-on. He hated my guts with a deep passion. One day I was doing my usual radical student stuff,passing around a petition for students' rights in the hallways (FAR LESS RADICAL THAN MY BROTHER_NOW DECEASED_WHO BROKE THE COLLARBONE OF THE FOOTBALL HERO WHO WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT THE PRIESTS ENLISTED TO INTIMIDATE ORDINARY STUDENTS-MOLLY HAS ALWAYS BEEN RATHER NON-VIOLENT UNLESS IT WAS NECESSARY-more on this story if you want). Father Toth came up in full fury. Ranting and raving about the communist conspiracy. Being as I was a communist at the time and several evolutionary steps above him in the great chain of being I KNEW that what I was passing around was pure liberalism. He was so silly that I started to laugh at him. Bad plan but unavoidable. I meet the same sort of nonsense even today, but it disguises itself as leftism. The common factor is a total lack of a sense of humour- indicating much more serious intellectual defects.

Anyways, I laughed. The sucker turned red. He turned white. He turned red again. The details of his silly face are firm in my memory even after all these these years because they were so amazing. He said, "I'll see you in my room after school Murtagh". Here we go folks. I spend the afternoon with the 'Campion Smart Club', the honour students who could double as the 'Campion Atheists' except they didn't draw as much "heat" as I do. Good people everyone, but without "the devil in their soul".

OK. Let's go rock and roll. I go into Toth's private little torture chamber. He rants. He raves. He threatens. He puffs out his fat chest. Now... Tothy Poo used to be a professional boxer in his days of proving how much he wasn't queer and he had an impressive chest before it fell down to the level of his gut. Finally Molly can take no more of his bullshit. She takes off her glasses (yes Molly has always been nearsighted),

"OK Buddy, take your swing"

Now, Toth was a professional boxer. But Molly was trained by the best. This bastard could win on the prairies, But Molly's father was boxing champion of Quebec in his weight class, and the evil bugger insisted that Molly learn the techniques. He only stopped my training when I hurt him by a judo throw.Ironically enough my judo career ended when I disabled the "champion" who was supposed to go on to win an upcoming competition with a nasty street trick that I learned from the old man (all that I can say here is DON'T LEAVE DISCIPLINE TO YOUR BEST OR YOU MAY FUCK UP-Pick Man # 2 to be your thug).

Anyways Toth landed a goodly number of punches on me. Enough to turn my face to a nasty bloody pulp- until I got my guard up. Toth may have been a professional boxer in southern Saskatchewan, but my father fought the best in eastern Canada. My guard was unbreakable once I got it up after he had the advantage of surprise. To this day I wonder why I didn't fight back. I had the advantage even though he was 100m pounds heavier than me. But I merely blocked until he got scared by the skill.

I went home. My parents saw my face. The old lady was beside herself about lawsuits. The old man-who I may remind you was a boxing champion wanted to go and beat the shit out of this sleazy priest. Let us say that this wasn't the first time that the Irish community has confronted the corruption of their priests. My father was convinced to not finish my fight by a phone call where Boyle forced Toth to apologise. One can imagine the ear twisting. We accepted this grovelling and neither launched a law suit over assault nor turned up with 200 people at the Jesuit centre with a bad temper.

That is my "high school confidential". It reads more like a report from eastern Europe under Communist rule. It may be more brutal than what actually happens today, particularly if your school is not Catholic-though Molly has little doubt that there are other "techniques of persuasion" in public schools that are more modern and presumably more effective.

By the way most of the people mentioned in this blog are long dead.

Keep smiling,

Molly