Truth be told

It has never been more important to report the truth, even when the truth hurts…


LORNE ABUGOV,
EDITOR,
THE MAINSTREETER



September 30th was Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As more and more Canadians are coming to understand and appreciate, this important day in our calendar recognizes the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Canadian Indian Residential School system on First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. These horrors of our history were memorialized by the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which published its shocking, multi-volume final report in December 2015, concluding that the Residential School system amounted to cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

September 28th, just two days before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and arguably far less well known to Canadians, happened to be World News Day, a global initiative to draw public attention to the role that journalists play in providing trustworthy news and factual information that serves citizens and democracy.  A leading player in this campaign for truthful and fearless reporting in our country is the Canadian Journalism Foundation.


Both of these annual days in late September are of critical and enduring importance to Old Ottawa East, its people and to those of us at The Mainstreeter. Here’s why.


To give meaning to reconciliation, and to move forward together with Indigenous peoples, all of us need to confront hard truths and wrestle with disturbing incidents, even when – and, indeed, especially when – they occur in our own backyard. Healing from this dark chapter in our history begins with the truth – which paves the way for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to move forward together in a positive way in our community.  Conversely, ignoring the Residential School legacy or being fearful to examine it truthfully and address it can further traumatize the survivors and their families who still live with the scars.


As the newspaper of Old Ottawa East, and as a strict adherent to honest, fact-based reporting, The Mainstreeter has a positive duty to speak out and inform our readers in a direct, honest and forceful manner about the full panoply of our community’s history – the good, and the not-so-good. The Mainstreeter has been pleased this year to publish the “happy facts” of community-building by our founding fathers of the 19th century in articles we’ve extracted from our archives to mark our 40th Anniversary. But, it is equally our duty to publish the truth about the less happy facts that comprise the historical legacy of this community.


We here at The Mainstreeter are thankful for the heroic work of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Chairperson, the late Murray Sinclair. Because of the prodigious efforts of Sinclair and the Commission, and the courage of their convictions, the historical facts underlying Canada’s shameful Residential Schools tragedy are now crystal clear. And they are hard facts indeed for this community.


Old Ottawa East was at the very centre of the Residential School atrocities from the 1880s through much of the 20th century. Some 67% of Canada’s Residential Schools were operated by the Roman Catholic Church, and of these schools, many were operated and directed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a missionary arm of the Catholic Church, which was headquartered throughout the decades of abuse at the Scholasticate, which we refer to today as the Deschâtelets Building, in the middle of Greystone Village, in the middle of Old Ottawa East.


Research by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified 3,213 deaths at Residential Schools across Canada between the 1880s and 1990s. Murray Sinclair believed the number of deaths could be over 10,000 students.


From its Main Street headquarters, the Oblates staffed, administered and directed the operations of 48 of the 139 federally funded residential schools in Canada, across seven provinces and territories, including the Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. at which 215 unmarked graves of young Indigenous students were discovered.


Putting these hard facts about the historical legacy of the Oblates and the Residential Schools in context is not easy. But try we must, because it is essential for the health and well-being of our community and for those Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who are working hard today in Old Ottawa East to move forward on the path to reconciliation.


One community group which has embraced the true meaning and purpose of reconciliation – even as they wrestle with the nightmare of history that stains the legacy of the Oblates Order – are the parishioners of Canadian Martyrs, an Oblates church on Main Street.


For our part, at The Mainstreeter, we know that some of our readers in Old Ottawa East are not pleased that the Oblates were paid $millions by developers for the sale of their lands upon which Greystone Village was and continues to be built. All the more so when, in 2015, the Oblate Order successfully fended off its legal obligations to raise $21 million as its negotiated share of compensation to the survivors of the Residential Schools, claiming it could not raise the funds.


We know as well that people residing in our community feel varying degrees of discomfort residing on streets in the development that bear the names of the Oblate Order and pay tribute to some of its leading historical figures.


The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report is clear that the truth about the Residential School system and its legacy must be told before reconciliation can occur. First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples are looking for actions towards reconciliation and not just hollow words and aspirations. Murray Sinclair stated that all Canadians are part of the negotiated Treaties, and all have a role to play in implementing the 94 Calls to Action detailed in the TRC reports.


Old Ottawa East sits on the unceded and unsurrendered traditional lands of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation and its people. More so than ever, and in the spirit of truthful news and reporting, we in this community must tell the truth, and live the truth. It seems to us that now is the time to strive to honour and pay tribute to the true founding peoples of Old Ottawa East – the Anishinaabe Nation.


      The author wishes to thank Peter Croal for his wise counsel.