A Healing Journey
CLAC member Hank Siegel has long been fighting on the front lines for education and reparation, both on home soil and, more recently, in the Vatican
By Rachel Debling
WARNING: This story contains discussions of childhood abuse. For more information about Canada’s residential schools and how you can help, visit the Indian Residential School Survivors Society at irsss.ca.
WHEN LOCAL 68 MEMBER HANK SIEGEL, a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, travelled to Rome in April 2022 to meet with none other than Pope Francis, he had no idea what he was in for. Ultimately, the trek would represent a moment of historic proportions for Canada, its Indigenous peoples, and Hank himself, cumulating in an apology that had yet to be offered by the Catholic Church.
“None of us were expecting it,” Hank says of those who made the journey across the pond and witnessed the apology in person. “It’s not the end of this story, but it’s a good start.”
The pope’s acknowledgement of the church’s role in Canada’s residential school system, which stripped thousands of Indigenous children from their families during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his apology for the abuses that occurred under its watch, was a shock, to say the least.
For advocates like Hank, it was a painful but necessary step on the path to reparations—but only the first of many steps to come.
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Pinpointing the start of Hank’s journey, whether it was his own time in a residential school as a child or the founding of Canada’s residential school system in the late 19th century, is difficult. But one obvious place to begin this leg of the story is May 2021, when Canadians from coast to coast were astonished and heartbroken at the discovery of hundreds of Indigenous children’s graves, first in British Columbia and then in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Alberta.
In the time since, the story has become an international news item and a bitter pill for those who believed that Canada has always had its Indigenous population’s best interests at heart. It is estimated that over 4,000 Indigenous children died at residential schools over the course of a few decades. Many who survived are plagued by the trauma of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of those whose care they were placed in.
When it was announced in early 2022 that the pope would be welcoming Indigenous Canadians to the Vatican to hear about their experiences with residential schools, Hank’s interest was piqued. Though it would be a momentous occasion to witness, the trip itself was too expensive for him to make on his own.
Luckily, Hank had friends with connections.
Due to his advocacy for the Indigenous populations in the areas where he worked, Hank had become close to Ryan Bruce, CLAC’s BC manager of government relations, who saw the good he was doing on the ground. Though Hank often refers to himself as “just a general labourer,” his activities both on site and in the community prove he is far from “just a general” anything.
“There were so many mistakes as to how the construction industry hired First Nations people,” Hank says of his grassroots efforts to bring Indigenous workers into the skilled trades. He saw that support was not being given to Indigenous employees who may be used to living on reservations, and that there was rarely a person from the same background to whom they could turn when they had concerns.
“It almost felt deliberate,” says Hank. “They hire guys who are going to fail so they can go back to the government and say, ‘Well, we tried.’”
This was an exercise in futility that Hank witnessed time and time again. “It’s what they say about insanity—doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
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With the support of CLAC and Ryan, Hank was able to travel thousands of kilometres overseas for an audience with the pope, a journey that was further facilitated by Hank’s close friend Phil Fontaine, an Indigenous Canadian politician and advocate, former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and a founder of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
“I was talking to Phil one day and he suggested, ‘Why don’t you come to Rome?’” Hank recalls. “I said, ‘I can’t afford to go to Rome.’ When I told Ryan about it, he did his magic and got me on a plane.”
Much to the surprise of Hank and Phil, who travelled together for the audience, when the pope began to speak, his comments were not what was expected.
“There was a lot of discussion as to whether the pope would apologize, and we didn’t really expect it,” says Hank. “So when he came out with an apology, we were all like, ‘Wow. It’s happened. It’s finally happened.’”
Hearing the leader of the Catholic Church not only acknowledge the wrongdoings that the organization had allowed to transpire for generations but to also accept blame was almost too good to be true, Hank says. Many of those on the trip weren’t initially optimistic of what the outcome would be. At most, they had hoped for recognition of the atrocities. Receiving an apology from the pope was the equivalent of finally being heard and validated.
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Hank and Phil rode the high of this admission throughout the rest of their trip.
“Phil was really excited because he felt as though his life’s work had been achieved,” says Hank. “Thirty years ago, Phil was already saying that this stuff happened and that it wasn’t being recognized. It took decades to truly expose it.”
Bringing his experience back home was equally rewarding for Hank. Upon returning to BC, he was greeted at the airport by dozens of First Nations and Indigenous advocates who were proud of and thankful for those who were able to represent them on the trip. The show of support was overwhelming.
Still, Hank says that there are those within Indigenous communities who are woefully unaware of the scope and impact of the residential school system. Looking back, at certain times in his career, Hank was concerned that he was being tapped as the token Native at some companies and work sites. But instead of seeing it as a downside, he used his position to help integrate new workers into the company and inform them of aspects of their culture that they weren’t aware of.
“A lot of the younger generation, the Indigenous population in their 20s, they had no clue about reconciliation,” remembers Hank. “Of course, they had heard about the bodies found at Kamloops, but they didn’t know what reconciliation meant.
“I always find myself educating someone. I say, ‘You know, you’re not reading this in a history book. You’re hearing it from a person—me—who went to residential schools.’ Then they can tell their kids they know someone who actually went to a residential school.”
On that note, Hank says that his time in the system was thankfully more positive than most.
“I had some good experiences,” he says. “In some ways, I feel like I’ve got the biggest family in the country, my family of residential school survivors. I have friends all over the country that I’ve come to consider family because I’ve been able to spend so much time with them.”
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His experience in the Vatican showed Hank that change is possible. But he recognizes that his point of view is not universally shared.
“There are a lot of First Nations who feel this isn’t enough,” Hank admits. “They’re still angry. But anger doesn’t really resolve anything. And one thing that Phil taught me is to never go into a meeting angry.”
It was this openness and willingness to listen that made the trip such a positive experience for him, Hank believes.
At press time, the pope had started a visit to Canada in July 2022, with major stops scheduled for Edmonton, Quebec City, and Iqaluit, Nunavut. (Editor's note: For update, see sidebar below.) Though Hank is unaware as to whether he will witness the pope in person on home soil, he is encouraged to see that efforts are being made and hopes that it will mean bigger, more meaningful changes for his people.
“When the pope comes here, one of the things that we are really pushing is the Doctorate of Discovery,” explains Hank. “That’s the land entitlements— we don’t actually own our land, as we have had to deal with treaties. So if we get the Doctorate of Discovery, it could change a lot of things—joint ventures, letting First Nations buy into the pipelines, a lot of stuff like that.”
Work wise, much more can be done to help integrate Indigenous workers into meaningful employment, especially in construction and the skilled trades.
“We need to have more empowerment with middle management,” Hank insists. “When we get into middle management, we can inspire the youth, and then anything is possible.
“I came from a reserve of 15,000, and 7,000 of us are now off the reserve. On our reserve, it’s nothing but poverty. I want to change that, but I can’t do it alone.”
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For Hank, even if the apology was more symbolic than action-based, he pictures a brighter future because of it, internationally, nationally, and locally.
“The importance of what the pope did is that it kind of puts pressure on the government,” he says.
Though the federal government has attempted to take the first steps toward mending the ties between itself and the First Nations, including the founding of a federal day of recognition on September 30, aptly titled the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the road to forgiveness is destined to be a long and winding one.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Hank says. “There was a feeling of relief. Now, we can finally move forward.”
Where We Go From Here
In 2007, The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, was implemented. The agreement stated that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was to help reconciliation among former residential school students, their families and communities, and Canada at large.
A historical record of the residential school system was created by the TRC, which is now housed at the University of Manitoba. More than five million records were provided to the TRC by the federal government as part of this process.
The TRC released a six-volume final report of its findings, including 94 calls to action (i.e., recommendations) to further reconciliation.
For more information about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 calls to action, visit rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca.
The Pope's Visit to Canada
Following the publication of this article, in late July, Pope Francis made his journey to Canada for his papal visit under the theme of "Walking Together." After arriving in Alberta, he made stops in Quebec and Nunavut, speaking to audiences of Indigenous Canadians, witnessing traditional ceremonies, and visiting with government officials.
For full details regarding his visit, including videos of the events, visit papalvisit.ca.