Inuit should be represented on res-school commission

I’m pleased to see that you published Peter Irniq’s letter asking for an Inuk to be appointed to the truth and reconciliation commission on residential schools.

I’m dismayed to see that no Inuk was appointed to the truth and reconciliation commission.

As someone who has researched Inuit education for years, I am aware of how unique it really was — and not just the residential school experience.

In 1949, the federal government introduced its first Inuit education policy. It created something called “federal day schools.”

The title was misleading. Because many families were still living on the land in hunting camps, Inuit children often came to live in settlements that previously had only been Hudson’s Bay Co. posts, sometimes with an RCMP station and a church mission.

Many kids were boarded with other families living “in town.” As adults, these Inuit are not eligible for a settlement as residential school survivors.

In some cases, matchbox houses were used for kids whose parents were still on the land, hunting and trapping. And many parents moved into the settlements to be close to their kids. This and the collapse of prices for fox fur are what brought many families into settlements.

It was, as Peter says, an absolutely unique and unfortunately for many, a soul-destroying experience. It deserves to be told to someone who speaks Inuktitut.

It should be heard by someone with enough insight to appreciate an experience that looks nothing like Indian residential schooling. I hope many Inuit leaders will rise to the challenge of doing something about this.

Frank Tester
Vancouver

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