High-level pressure put on new prime minister

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As Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver began to fill on Good Friday, April 14, parish staff offered parishioners copies of a letter written by Andrew Hutchison, archbishop and primate of Canada's Anglican Church urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to finally settle the compensation issue surrounding Indian residential schools. He asked Harper to honor the promise of advanced payments to the elderly and sick, once students who attended the schools, and to move forward on other payments without delay.

As the parishioners read the letter, a vigil was being held outside the church to remember those who went through Canada's residential school system. Those gathered heard recollections of survivors, and stories from others affected by the legacy of that system.

"The tears tattooed upon my face are in honor of our people and our suffering," said Dawna Ambers of the Mumtagila Nation in British Columbia. "They are a reminder to others of what the residential school system has put us through. When the children of our reserve were taken away to St Michael's Residential School in Alert Bay, the parents followed. They deserted Mumtagila reserve and our traditional way of life. It has remained abandoned to this day. The whole community was and still is affected by the practices of the day, whether or not we attended residential school ourselves or were brought up by parents who did."

Randy Murray is Christ Church Cathedral's communications and development associate. He said the Anglican church believes the elderly should get their compensation now.

"Each church within Canada's Anglican Church was billed a share of the $25-million settlement that we owed to survivors of the residential school system. Christ Church Cathedral Vancouver's share was $90,000 and our parishioners raised the money in cash and pledges, as have all the parishioners of all other Anglican Churches in the greater Vancouver area. No one pretends it's enough compensation; however delaying payments to the elderly serves no good purpose," he said. "We are disappointed by the lack of humanity the new federal government is showing to the promises that were made to elderly survivors, promises which have been broken once again."'

Christopher Livingstone of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS) and member of the Nisga'a Nation in Northern B.C., believes the issues of Canada's residential school system must be kept in the public domain.

"Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a war zone. HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, poverty and unemployment, this all comes from the residential school system," Livingstone said.

"We are here today because we care. Lots of people are aware of what happened to us and many are not. In a four block radius in DTES, thousands of Aboriginal people have no job, no future, no hope. We need treatment facilities so the next generation has opportunities, jobs, a future and hope."