TRC passing the torch to U of M

The first university to apologize to Indian residential school students will house the National Research Centre, which will tell the story of Indian residential school survivors.

The statement of apology and reconciliation issued by University of Manitoba President Dr. David Barnard was one factor in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s decision to award the research centre to the university. Barnard issued the heartfelt apology in October 2011 at the TRC’s Atlantic National Event held in Halifax.

“When the president stood up and talked about the importance of an academic institution taking responsibility for the way that it educated its students to ensure that they were capable of challenging those things in society that needed to be challenged, the message was very clear, it was very strong,” said TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair. “It was a factor that showed us there was a very strong commitment at the University of Manitoba of advancing the cause of residential schools and survivors and the issues that they raise and to establishing the University of Manitoba as the centre of Aboriginal excellence.”

Sinclair said the U of M’s proposal was “head and shoulders” above others.

On June 21, at a ceremony held at the U of M, the TRC signed “trust documents” with the university and the university’s multiple partners to house the centre at the post-secondary institution. Creating the centre was part of the TRC’s mandate established through the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

“The reason why the University of Manitoba and other partners involved with the university are being called upon to sign those documents with us is because as a commission we will cease to function, we will no longer be in existence a year from now. As a result of that, some other entity needs to undertake this work and carry it forward, and we are asking them to carry it forward with the same sense of sacred trust that we have brought to this work,” said Sinclair.

Sinclair stressed the importance of the research centre to not only house the statements the TRC has collected from survivors, along with documentations from partner churches and the federal government, but to continue the process of collecting statements from survivors and intergenerational survivors, and documents from provincial governments, private collectors, private museums, Aboriginal organizations and individuals.

The agreement also calls for U of M to undertake new research relating to residential schools and public education; to create exhibits that deal with Aboriginal issues and ceremonies; to assist Aboriginal people in accessing their rights as outlined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and to fulfill the recommendations of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which called for a national repository of records relating to all aspects of Aboriginal history.

A governing circle, the majority of whose members will be Aboriginal, will make the decisions, assisting the university in the direction of the research centre.

“We will be responsible keepers of the stories you have gathered and the conclusions you will make to help us move forward from this dark period of Canadian history,” said Barnard.

He said the university’s central location will make the centre accessible to all, and planned to see it used by survivors and their families as well as academics. He also noted the university’s archival expertise and partnership with a number of organizations and post-secondary institutions – University of British Columbia, Legacy of Hope Foundation, University of Winnipeg, Lakehead University, Red River College, University College of the North, University of St. Boniface, National Association of Friendship Centres, Archives Man, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“We are creating a national memory here for all Canadians to be able to rely upon because we know if we do not do that it’ll be just a matter of two or three generations from now that most Canadians will not only be able to forget this occurred, but they will be able to deny that it occurred. That can never happen.
That must never happen because this is part of what Canada is all about,” said Sinclair.

Photo caption: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair (centre left) holds documentation with University of Manitoba President Dr. David Barnard establishing that the National Research Centre will be housed at the university.