'I just want to know'-Saint-Marie

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The Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) are organizing a benefit concert in support of the George family at Toronto's Massey Hall on Oct. 10. Buffy Sainte-Marie has agreed to be the featured performer.

"Last year, the ETT successfully raised over $60,000 for the Ipperwash Justice Fund-a fund to help cover the George family's trial costs. This year, the teachers are going a step further and sponsoring a concert, not just to raise money, but to launch a permanent education fund for Aboriginal youth in memory of Dudley George. And Buffy Sainte-Marie, who is committed to this cause, is showing her support through performing at this concert," said ETT's Lisa Worthington.

During a phone interview from her home in Hawaii, Sainte-Marie told Windspeaker that she feels strongly about helping the George family in its pursuit of the truth about Ipperwash.

"Like everybody else I know, as the information about Dudley emerged, I was shocked. I wanted to know more. Both the events, of his death and the problems surrounding the lack of a full judicial inquiry, stay on my mind," said the world-renowned singer/songwriter.

She said she was proud to work with the teachers' organization to make the show a reality.

"As a teacher myself before I was ever a singer, I have a hard time playing stupid when I want to know something and somebody wants me to forget it. As the founder of an educational foundation that has, since the 1960s, given away millions of dollars to students trying to make the world better, healthier, and smarter, I have seen scholarship recipients go on to great lives, including some who became college presidents," she said. "As a member of WINHEC-the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium-I work with other PhDs from New Zealand, Australia and the Americas to create and sustain tribal colleges, and to pave students' paths from kindergarten to high school graduation. They know about Dudley George."

This is the ninth school year that has begun since the death of Dudley George, she said, adding that it's time teachers were able to tell the students exactly what happened that night at Ipperwash Provincial Park.

"Every autumn, school children reflect on the big 'What happened?' when Columbus got off that boat. Were the Europeans who destroyed the Indigenous worlds they found really as violent and underhanded as they seem? Or were they too victims of something that recurs again and again in weak human societies- bad leadership. Now Canadians, especially educators, are considering the possibility that such bad leadership might actually be condoning violence and underhanded cover ups today, as in the case of the death of Dudley George. As for me, I can't sleep nights wondering what really happened. Like the Elementary Teachers of Toronto, I just want to know."