School survivors are being exploited, says consultant

Neither Health Canada nor the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) are speaking out about the resignation of Rod McCormick.

McCormick, a Mohawk psychologist and professor of counseling at the University of British Columbia, made it known when he was in Edmonton in September that he had resigned his position as a mental health consultant with Health Canada. He was tasked with co-managing the health support for the national events for the TRC.
“I resigned from that because… the survivors are not guiding the process,” said McCormick.

Ashley Lemire, media relations officer with Health Canada, said the department was “unable to accommodate (Windspeaker’s) interview request.”

Comments on McCormick’s resignation were passed off by Nancy Pine, senior communications and outreach advisor for the TRC, to Health Canada. Pine noted that McCormick was contracted by that department and not the commission.

McCormick tendered his resignation in May, a month prior to the TRC’s first national event, which was held in June in Winnipeg.

McCormick said concerns he raised that the Survivors Advisory Committee was not being listened to and that the right experts were not being consulted, were ignored by both Health Canada and the TRC.

“I think the survivors are still being exploited in the process the way it stands right now in Canada,” said McCormick.

In an email response, Lemire said McCormick was a member of the Resolution Health Support Advisory Committee which was established to provide strategic advice to Health Canada on the coordination of mental health and emotional support services for participants of national Truth and Reconciliation Commission events.
McCormick, who was in charge of the health support workers, said his committee asked that the communities be consulted for the support they required.

“We wanted to go ask the communities, the survivors, ‘What do you want? What will help you guys with this event?’ Health Canada didn’t want to do that,” said McCormick.

He said that experts being consulted by Health Canada were non-Aboriginal. He also claimed that the there was rivalry between the two federal government departments, Health Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs, with Health Canada not provided with the agenda for the first national event until a few weeks before the June date, which made planning the health services for the Winnipeg event difficult.

“I don’t believe the survivors have a respectful and sufficient role in planning for the events,” said McCormick.

“Health Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are working collaboratively on common goals related to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is an active and valued member of the Resolution Health Support Advisory Committee,” said Lemire in her written response.

Under the terms of IRSSA, Health Canada’s role is to provide mental health and emotional support services for all eligible former IRS students and their families throughout the various phases of the settlement agreement, wrote Lemire.

“This is a court-mandated process. The government went into it reluctantly because of multi-billion dollar cost action lawsuits. I don’t think they’ve approached it with good will and I don’t think they’ve approached it in a good way,” said McCormick.

McCormick also knocked Health Canada for discontinuing funding to the Aboriginal Health Foundation, which bankrolled a variety of healing programs throughout the country.

McCormick remains under contract with Health Canada providing mental health and addictions support to various mental health programs in the BC region.

Photo: Shari Narine

Caption: Rod McCormick resigned as a member of Health Canada’s team for coordination of mental health and emotional support services for participants of national Truth and Reconciliation Commission events.