Photo: Inuit activist happy with TRC report, findings

Pita Irniq, along with Jack Anawak, the late Marius Tungilik, and others, 25 years ago began a long campaign to reveal the truth about shocking abuses against Inuit children that were committed at Sir Joseph Bernier School in Chesterfield Inlet in the 1950s and 1960s. After all that work he now says he’s happy with the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report released June 2. In a speech, Justice Murray Sinclair, the head of the commission, said the report confirms “that what took place in residential schools amounts to nothing short of cultural genocide — a systematic and concerted attempt to extinguish the spirit of Aboriginal peoples.” The report makes 94 recommendations, covering child welfare, education, justice and many other aspects of Aboriginal life. The TRC also calls for a “Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation” from the Crown. Read more later at Nunatsiaqonline.ca. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)