Monday, November 1, 2021

Listen

Following Canada’s first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, continue the learning journey by being ready to listen.

By Michael Schroeder Hubert, Training Program Manager

Not long after the discovery of 215 unmarked graves on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, I was in another school—this one on a First Nation. The school under construction will provide kindergarten to grade twelve education to the young people of God’s Lake Narrows First Nation in Manitoba. When it’s done, it will be a beautiful building and a great place for the kids of God’s Lake Narrows to go to school in their own community.

I’ve been going to God’s Lake Narrows to provide skills and safety training to workers from the community who have been hired to work on the school project. On this last trip, following the discovery, I was teaching the workers about putting up drywall and mudding and taping it to hide the joints and create a nice, smooth surface.

Before I began, I had to acknowledge the news that was front and centre in everyone’s minds

I asked the workers who were in the class about their thoughts. I asked as a dad of school-aged kids. I asked humbly as a person of the dominant culture—a white, middle-aged guy who has had lots of opportunity due to the luck of being born who I am. I asked as someone looking for something to share with my kids, my coworkers, and my friends about this ongoing tragedy.

The workers ranged from just out of school themselves to their sixties. They hinted that they had personal stories from their extended family experience, but no one shared specific stories. It wasn’t the time or place to go deep.

But what they did ask me to share with others was this:

Listen.

When those who have experienced the pain of residential schools—or those who are experiencing the generational trauma caused by them—are ready to tell their stories, listen.

When you have an opportunity to work at reconciliation with Indigenous partners, listen.

The 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, and the hundreds and thousands more in other places across are country, are being discovered because the parents whose kids never came home were not listened to. Those parents knew something was terribly wrong. No one listened to them, and their children were allowed to disappear—and only discovered when people with power were ready to listen.

Now, after our first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, continue the learning journey by being open to listening. For much too long, Canada’s history has not held space to hear the suffering of Indigenous people.

Our shared tomorrow beckons us forward, but we can only get there together if we listen.

Thanks to my hosts In God’s Lake Narrows for sharing their wisdom.

Listen

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