Friday, June 11, 2021

The Kamloops Residential School and My Selective Memory Loss

Residential schools and their history are very painful, but truth is essential for reconciliation

By Kevin Kohut, BC Director

I can remember sitting in a logging camp in BC at the end of a long day, maybe 30 years ago, with the rest of my forestry coworkers. There was a little TV with poor reception in the upper corner of the camp rec room, the only TV in the camp.

Most of us were vegging out on one of the couches, or having a game of pool on the warped table, while others were playing cards. We were all half-paying attention to the news because there was word of a protest by some local Indigenous people.

This was not an uncommon news story during those years. These protests usually involved a roadblock, but were largely peaceful events with placards and chants of the cause they were trying to draw the public’s attention to.

To our tired crew, the only reason the story mattered was that we were worried it might impinge on our return home. Most of us were feeling pissed off at the protesters, but were afraid to be too vocal about it because “Paul,” an Indigenous man who was highly respected by the team and one of our crew leaders, was in the room.

The awkwardness was dispelled somewhat when Paul shook his head and spoke firmly to the TV, “Why don’t you guys go get jobs?” After that, a few of the crew members seemed to feel freer to express their anger a bit more openly, agreeing with and echoing Paul’s statement.

I am not exaggerating when I say that, as I write this, I feel sick thinking about the above memory. Not because of the unspectacular scenario I’ve described. I doubt that I would’ve even remembered it, but because of the angry feelings and judgments that a 20-year-old version of me had had that day toward a people that I knew nothing about.

It would only be several years later that I would revisit this memory. I was reading a section of a book that described over 150,000 children being taken from their families as a matter of policy. In Canada. Without consent.

When I read that this continued to happen in my lifetime, I didn’t believe it. As soon as I finished a couple paragraphs, I put the book down and asked a friend who was staying with us if they had ever heard of this.

My friend, who happened to be a social worker, flatly told me that the book was not exaggerating and explained how the ramifications are a very present reality. I felt compelled to argue that it couldn’t have been happening that recently without a public outcry. It wasn’t even mentioned when I was in school! I have heard many versions of this same sentiment from others in my age group.

With the recent discovery of 215 indigenous children’s graves in the Kamloops Residential School, it was another of those hard-to-handle doses of truth that the reality that has been lived by many of our fellow Canadians is beyond what we can absorb from books. I hate that this is part of our history.

We know that this discovery has hurt our nation’s Indigenous communities, especially with the knowledge that there are likely more remains yet to be found across the country. Residential schools and their history are very painful, but truth is essential for reconciliation.

CLAC values and respects our Indigenous members. We stand with Tk’emlúps te Secwépem and all Indigenous, Inuit, and Métis communities in their grief and pain, and we would like to share resources to help.

If you are affected and hurting by these discoveries, please reach out for support.

• A National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students and those affected. Access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line at 1-866-925-4419.

• Within BC, the KUU-US Crisis Line Society provides a First Nations and Indigenous-specific crisis line available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, toll-free from anywhere in BC at 1-800-588-8717. Alternatively, call direct to the Youth line at 250-723-2040 or the Adult line at 250-723-4050 or online at kuu-uscrisisline.com.

• The Métis Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-833-Metis-BC (1-833-638-4722). They will forward national calls to local regions.

The Kamloops Residential School and My Selective Memory Loss

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