Letter: Vicious cycle of abuse

Dear Editor:

The chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Justice Murray Sinclair, is quite right in calling for sensitivity in dealing with student Persons of Interest in the residential school Independent Assessment Process, but quite wrong in suggesting the issue of student-on-student abuse was not on the minds of those who negotiated the settlement agreement. (Sensitivity
needed, Windspeaker, February 2011)

Those at the negotiating table on behalf of residential school claimants, including legal counsel such as myself, were well aware that student-on-student abuse was one of the realities of the residential school experience.

The fact that such abuse occurred was, in many of our views, a reflection of the pattern of abuse that occurred within such schools and a further example of the sad reality that those who are subjected to abuse are at risk of becoming abusers themselves.

One of the objectives of negotiators representing residential school survivors was to ensure that all those who suffered at residential schools as a result of this phenomenon have proper access to the compensation process.
As a result, specific guidelines were included in the settlement agreement. These guidelines expanded the access of individuals with claims of student-on-student abuse, permitting them to advance such claims through the IAP, a far better process both for the claimant and the student Person of Interest than the ordinary civil courts.

Like all alleged abusers, student Persons of Interest have the option of a separate hearing to put their position on the record in a nonconfrontational way.

There is no question that such claims can give rise to tension, embarrassment, anxiety and fear on both sides, and Justice Sinclair is correct to be concerned of their impact on reconciliation within the aboriginal community itself.

Hopefully the research that the TRC is undertaking will specifically examine the phenomenon of how cultures of abuse, such as that within Indian Residential Schools, can lead to more than one kind of victim, including those who wind up committing some kind of abuse themselves. A better understanding of this is essential if there is to be reconciliation or forgiveness.
Jon Faulds