Volunteers work to support Truth event

Ninoon Dawah handed out turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches on June 16, the first day of the inaugural event hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Winnipeg.

The young man from Sandy Bay First Nation in Manitoba said in a soft voice that his grandmother and mother had both attended residential schools.

“It was so hard for them,” said Dawah. “My grandmother got hit when she tried to speak her language. My mother got hit as well for speaking her language.”

Perhaps that was what drove Dawah’s mother to teach him to speak Ojibway.

Dawah’s mother made the trip to Winnipeg to attend the four-day event June 16 to19. Dawah’s grandmother remained in Sandy Bay.

“My mother is still affected by her time at residential school. She’s still angry,” said Dawah.

He travelled with her to help out at the event and give her support.

Johnny Smith and Allan McKay were on driving duty, using motorized carts to take Elders from one part of the Forks to another, with tents and events spread across the grounds.

“We wanted to help our Elders, make ourselves useful,” said Smith, who’s a member of Nelson House First Nation.

Smith’s mother passed away before the government began the financial compensation for survivors. She attended a residential school and never talked about it.
McKay’s grandparents attended Cross Lake Residential School on that First Nation.

“They talked to me about it,” said McKay. “They said it was a good thing you weren’t born that time because you wouldn’t have liked it.”

McKay’s grandparents also told him how they would get their hands slapped with a ruler when they tried to speak Cree. But they continued to speak their language in secret.

McKay’s grandmother passed away in 1994 and his grandfather in 1996.

“They would have thought this was an awesome opportunity to see Aboriginal people gathered in a place like this.”

Chancey Yackel, who’s Ojibway, resides in Winnipeg and is attending the University of Manitoba getting her Masters in Psychology. Her studies, which include learning about residential schools, are one reason why she decided to help out at the event. But there is also another, more personal reason.

“My grandfather went to residential school. He passed away two years ago. He never spoke about it to anyone,” said Yackel. “I think he would be here now. I think he would be very happy.”

Fred Ford, an Inuk from Baker Lake, Nunavut, now residing in Winnipeg, is part of that city’s newly created Inuk urban association, which was invited by the TRC to take part in the events.

Ford’s father is a residential school survivor and remained in Baker Lake.

“I experienced some of the fall out from him,” said Ford. “He didn’t talk about the school. He won’t yet.”

Ford saw his time at the Forks, where nearly 40,000 people filtered through during the course of the event, as an opportunity to understand what his father went through.

“It’s important for us to be here. We all have a responsibility. The greater population has a responsibility to know what went on. We need to come to an understanding.”

Setting history straight is also important, said Ford.
“We have to tell our own history. History is written by the victors and you’re not going to find this (residential schools) in the history books.”