Inuit leaders say truth of residential schools still needs to be acknowledged
‘It’s hard to imagine for me right now what a world of reconciled Canada looks like because it feels so far away,’ says MP Lori Idlout
People march in Iqaluit march during the 2022 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (File photo)
Nearly a decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its 94 calls to action, Indigenous leaders and advocates say there is a long way to go before the legacy of residential schools is understood and, in some cases, accepted.
Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout said she fears there are still many non-Indigenous people who are ignorant to the reality of what Indigenous people have faced and continue to experience.
“There’s still so much ignorance and racism that trying to talk about what the truth means can be scary for Indigenous Peoples because of the backlash that we might get,” she said in an interview with Nunatsiaq News.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to attend the government-funded institutions over a period of about 150 years. The last residential school closed in the mid-1990s.
The federal government established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 to document the history and lasting impacts of the residential school system on Indigenous Peoples and their families.
The commission released a report, with 94 calls to action for government, businesses, institutions and the general public, in 2015.
That report concluded that school system amounted to a cultural genocide.
There were 13 residential schools that operated in Nunavut. Kivalliq Hall in Rankin Inlet, which closed in 1997, was Canada’s last residential school according to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Idlout spoke about a hesitancy among many Indigenous people to approach the RCMP because they feel they won’t be protected, and residential school denialism from some members of Parliament.
“It’s frustrating that it’s still Indigenous people that’s doing all the work to make sure that Canada never forgets what they continue to do to Indigenous Peoples,” she said.
“It’s hard to imagine for me right now what a world of reconciled Canada looks like because it feels so far away, and we need to inch forward.”
Idlout expressed disappointment in federal funding for northern housing and slow progress on the commission’s calls to action, calling it “despicable.”
Eighty-one of the calls to action remain unfulfilled, according to a report released last year by the Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led education and research centre based at Toronto Metropolitan University.
No calls to action were fulfilled in 2023, the report said.
Idlout said she hopes Indigenous people are reminded on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation of the strength of their ancestors who thrived in the harshest of environments and innovated tools for survival.
“We have to keep using our strength to make sure that we’re making a better future for our children and our grandchildren because without our voice, effort, and our strength, intergenerational trauma is going to be continued,” said Idlout.
“For Sept. 30, that will be the day that we are seen and every day after that we will keep working to make sure that we are never invisible again.”
Braden Kadlun, a content creator from Kugluktuk who shares Inuit culture and knowledge on TikTok, agrees there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to push for recognition of the truth of residential schools.
“I’m a believer we’re still in the truth phase of truth and reconciliation, there’s a growing number of denialisms in terms of residential schools and colonialism itself,” said Kadlun.
He noted the lack of progress on the commission’s calls to action, adding he believes they need to be implemented to help address the challenges Indigenous people experience through the health care and judicial systems.
He said there needs to be more acknowledgement of the truth of Canada’s “cruel colonial history” toward Indigenous Peoples, but that the growth of Orange Shirt Day helps to spread the message.
“Spend the day in a way that works for you, whether that is at home reflecting with loved ones, participating in local events in the community, or just take the day to heal,” said Kadlun.
Time to focus on issues that matter now not 89 years ago
So to put that differently, this day makes you uncomfortable and you want it to “go away”. Is that accurate?
My friend went to residential school and he is only 50
Taken at six years old til graduation at 18.
Part of the lost generation that can’t fit here nor there….
🤘66 years “old” & still standing.🤘🤘
Taken at six years old til graduation at 18.
Part of a lost generation who became misfits fitting neither here nor there…
✌️66 yrs. “old” & still standing.🤘
Before you get too comfortable in your knowledge (or lack thereof), can you tell me when the last residential school in Canada closed its doors?
Suggest you do some real research.
And you can name the last residential school in Canada Mr. Murphy? It was in our own backyard during the NWT days. We still see the derelict if a building that housed us Ukkivik residents back in the day. The Kivalliq Hall still does exist but now as a Nunavut Arctic College Dormitory and it was the last residential school in Canada.
Actually, Gordon Reserve Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan was the last residential school to close in 1996.
Fun fact: Saskatchewan also hosts the longest dog sled race in Canada.
Buffy. How can we make this go away when our PM dosnt do anything about it. Poor housing poor education lack of health care. You don’t have a worry with the millions you have
The Feds have thrown money at Nunavut for all kinds of things, including housing, education.
With nearly 3 BILLION dollars of annual funding for less than 40,000 people our GN is the real problem here, they fail to support local capacity building and continue to be so disorganized and toxic, with all that funding the GN cannot do anything meaningful only after wasting so much money we get something subpar that doesn’t really do anything for Nunavut, in all departments and for whatever reason no one wants to bring this to light and have hard discussions and no plans to make any changes.
Instead try and blame Inuit organizations and or the federal government but it all comes down to our government from Nunavut with a incredible amount of money and power that is hard for most to fathom, nearly 3 BILLION a year budget for such a small population. Who is benefiting from all this money and why can’t after more than 20 years since Nunavut our government is only getting worse and not better?
Of course it matters now, it is still happening and with the way current politics seem to be going, you could be the next Indian. Don’t be so complacent. What happens to others will happen to us too if we don’t take responsibility for our actions and words. There are consequences to all actions.
Hey, many of us were treated like dogs….I like to see your child taken away to Manitoba without any of your consent or whatever you like it or not. Sure, say I will not let it happen, then shut up…..Do you know we had dog tags called Disc Numbers? We had no names just numbers, lI.E., Trudeau; Q1-001 means he’s from Quebec, Mount Royal area. No name, he’s just a number because his name is not important…C. Freeland; O1-001.
Is our current education system any better than the residential schools? So many kids frequent schools today and are unfed, barely learn anything there or at home, fluency in Inuktut is on the decline.
Same with BLM if you follow the money you realize it’s more then just about residential schools. A select few are really lining there pockets. And why?
Many times more Indigenous are dying today from the opioid crisis than ever died in IRS. Many of those deaths are occurring as a result of so-called compensation payments delivered with no financial planning. The money goes straight to the purchase of alcohol and drugs.
Why have all those billions not gone to deliver help that works—real addictions rehab, housing, education, skills training and job placement?
Next generations need help now, and they’re not getting it.
There are ignorant teachers and principals teaching in Nunavut schools and they are not taken seriously. I feel the complaints are not being addressed. I feel making a complaint is only for the privileged, what I mean by privileged is those who came to Nunavut to work. School boards and Superintendents are only there to protect the teachers who did wrong. Every year those who came to Inuit communities to work should have a workshop about truth and reconciliation one a year.
Feel free to go do the work yourself or motivate others to do it. If you want schools to run based on Inuit ways of life, that is the only way to make it happen. Complaints are cheap.
Since we are still in the “truth phase” let’s talk about Kivalliq Hall, a real residential school? Or, something else? Hmm..
Hello..My mother was 1 of those RSS….This article is typical of the hypocrisy we Inuit spout on a daily basis pointing our fingers at non Inuit ,mainstream politicians and society for our problems …its so much easier to blame others than it is to look at yourself and ask how you are contributing to our dysfunctional arrogant ignorant practices and judgements.
The biggest perpetrators of bias and ignorance towards each other is ourselves.
While wearing your “orange tshirt, professing support and belief in the RSS,while not acknowledging the residual impact of multigenerational trauma inflicted on the family and the scars we carry because of the torture our parents were existing in..this is the typical hypocrisy of which I speak…..it’s okay to point out,insult disrespect and denigrate another Inuk due to us not speaking Inuittuit,which somehow gives those who were raised in the “normal”environment of non oppression due to the legacy of the RS to value us as less then them.”You are not an Inuk”..so they tell us…in their judgemental view. I call their insecurities and ignorance out into the open as I always have and will continue to do so.
I and my siblings are no less Inuit than those who speak our language fluently. Do not judge me by your definition..I am an Inuk…as are my siblings and the fact of our mother being a statistic of that torture
in no way reduces our heritage by virtue of verbal conversation. This is a repeated conversation I have shared many times…I will not justify myself,my heritage or my communication based solely on another’s ignorance.Before you label me or anyone else as less than you…
ask yourself…why are you so threatened by us? How is our communication or lack of language affecting your daily life?
We are all Inuit,we all share the same lineage,our ancestors.
Your sense of identity is not threatened by me or my siblings however our children and grandchildren ,our future generations are being spoonfed the same arrogant insecure toxic close-minded soup thereby passing on this sickening behaviour.Why?
So,before we point fingers and play the blame game as an Inuk woman,mother and grandmother might I suggest that it time to look in the mirror and ask yourself those hard questions,starting off with ” who are you to judge me? ” My blood I share with you…it is not by any choice of mine that we dont share our common ancestral language ..but that does not lessen nor cancel me out.
Truth is a hard reality but it is only in truth that we our people and our culture will thrive.
To those who get upset by this…oh well..truth hurts…
Some southern teachers in Nunavut and vegan critics often display ignorance regarding Inuit traditions and history, highlighting the importance of cultural awareness and sensitivity in the region.
Yea, those damned vegans!
It does need to be acknowledged, especially to those who came to Nunavut to work in schools. We as Inuit learned about history of Columbus, history of holocaust and history of war. The history of residential schools, the sixties scoop, relocations and dog slaughter should be learned too in Canadian schools, it’s part of Canada’s history isn’t?
“Dog Slaughter”
*Drink*
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other government officials killed thousands of sled dogs, rendering the breed extinct.
Only in Quebec and the breed is not extinct.
Then become a teacher or run for a DEA position and fix it.
Blessings to you and healing energies too. I apologize for my ancestors ignorant inhumane actions. You didn’t deserve that treatment. The legends I’ve heard say that the seventh generation will heal the world, it is just beginning, and it is beginning. Stay strong. You are needed more than ever. Blessings to You!