1000 replies to this topic

[On the Level]

I don't think this is a bunch of kids/young adults who were looking to vandalize. Nor was it a scrap thief.

 

 

Wow.  Good standing up for the church!  Way to go on calling down those that dropped a cross. 

No posts from you calling out child rapists in the residential school system over a hundred years?

No mention from you on how awful the people are that left children to die of disease? 

Nothing for the kids that were murdered?

How about the Moms & Dads, the communities whose children were torn from them?

Or just a word for each child buried beside the residential schools across Canada?

Nothing? Zip? Nadda?

 

We are all outraged and disappointed by what happened at residential schools. 

 

If you need to grieve because you are having a hard time reconciling yourself and how you are connected, then there are better ways of dealing with your emotions than taking things into your own hands.  There is a problem when outsiders (you) continue to try to dominate the conversation and defend destruction, which in a way perpetuates what Europeans were trying to do with residential schools in the first place. 

[VIResident]

We are all outraged and disappointed by what happened at residential schools. 

 

If you need to grieve because you are having a hard time reconciling yourself and how you are connected, then there are better ways of dealing with your emotions than taking things into your own hands.  There is a problem when outsiders (you) continue to try to dominate the conversation and defend destruction, which in a way perpetuates what Europeans were trying to do with residential schools in the first place. 

 

 

My point is outrage expressed here, on Vibrant Victoria, is for the destruction of property, tearing down of crosses and burning of churches.

 

All manner of excuses, rationalization, victim blaming to prop-up 'proof' murder, rape and withholding of medical needs of children along with the tearing down of culture, families and community over the past 100 years in Canada was/is somehow diminished over the property damage. 

 

Simply put, its sick. 

Edited by VIResident, 19 July 2021 - 05:47 AM.

[VIResident]

The churches, burning to the ground, damaged and vandalized. 

Those who hold the church as a part of their heart and soul, these actions are a true horror. 

Others, mortified by the level of 'lawlessness' are angry and all want justice. 

I am deeply sorry for these losses, for these feelings that have been forced onto anyone who did not invite this and are hurt by these actions.   

This is not what anyone would have wanted to see happen, and it is a crime. 

These actions should be investigated and those responsible should be held to account to the fullest extent of the law.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ due to politics this is unlikely to happen. see how there have been no arrests in the cook statue. it’s not like police don’t know who was responsible.

[VIResident]

On the tens of thousands of totem's, memorial poles and house posts and longhouses that were destroyed vandalized, stolen and forbidden, I am saddened by these actions taken, including the recent burning/vandalism of the totem on Vancouver Island. These criminal actions were a crime, should not have happened and should be investigated and where possible charges/conviction and justice served the end result.

 

(The accounts of the existence of historical longhouses, totem's and poles, their purposeful destruction and ultimately forbidden by law or Church (law) are from those in or associated with the Church, Government and commerce and in writing, in english, therefore should give relief to those who have concerns about accuracy of existence).

[VIResident]

^^^^^^^

^ due to politics this is unlikely to happen. see how there have been no arrests in the cook statue. it’s not like police don’t know who was responsible.

[amor de cosmos]

A group of Yukoners walking from Whitehorse to Kamloops, B.C., in honour of Indigenous children who died at residential schools is now about halfway through their journey.
 
Undaunted by the heat and by long days on the road, the group of walkers has expanded since leaving Whitehorse on June 27, and now consists of about 14 people. 

"We've had the opportunities to meet with the communities along the way, and that has been incredibly beautiful and healing," said Jacqueline Shorty in an interview on Yukon Morning with host Elyn Jones on Thursday. 
 
Shorty and James Henyu came up with the idea for the walk, which has been named the Warriors Walk for Healing Nations, in mid-June — just weeks after the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in B.C. revealed that preliminary findings at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School uncovered the remains of 215 children buried at the site.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...lfway-1.6105928

[Victoria Watcher]

First Nations representatives harshly called out the Manitoba government on Monday, labelling recent comments by Premier Brian Pallister and cabinet minister Alan Lagimodiere as propaganda and demanding the latter's resignation.

 

Standing on the front steps of the legislative building, the Summit of Treaty 5 Sovereign Nations (STFSN) blasted the Progressive Conservative government for a "deliberate attempt to distort the history of Indigenous peoples regarding the policy of genocide at residential schools."

 

In a fiery speech that could be heard far from the Tyndall stone steps, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs shouted his anger with Pallister and Lagimodiere.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...diere-1.6108012

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 July 2021 - 03:41 PM.

[spanky123]

^ Methinks the Grand Chief needs to vet his speech with the folks using the GPR. The experts haven’t yet determined how many if any graves exist let alone how the folks died.

Good strategy for many FN leaders though. Get the members riled up and then they won’t think to ask where all the money has gone.

[On the Level]

My point is outrage expressed here, on Vibrant Victoria, is for the destruction of property, tearing down of crosses and burning of churches.

 

All manner of excuses, rationalization, victim blaming to prop-up 'proof' murder, rape and withholding of medical needs of children along with the tearing down of culture, families and community over the past 100 years in Canada was/is somehow diminished over the property damage. 

 

Simply put, its sick. 

 

What a sickening post.  Should we put some white children in those churches for your retribution?  

[Victoria Watcher]

A Surrey, B.C., church has been destroyed after a massive fire early Monday morning.

 

Flames broke out at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church on 108 Avenue and 139 Street shortly after 3:30 a.m.

 

By the time firefighters arrived the building was engulfed in flames and it was upgraded to a third-alarm fire.

 

https://bc.ctvnews.c...ances-1.5514568

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 July 2021 - 10:51 PM.

[VIResident]

https://www.vicnews....ential-schools/

 

Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke MP

As the parliamentary session comes to an end, I am reflecting on what it means to represent the people of Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke. I am proud of the work that my NDP colleagues and I were able to do in Parliament this year, and I am eager to continue to work to improve the lives of Canadians. This has been a challenging year for everyone, and I have never been prouder of the resilience and solidarity of the people I represent.

With the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools reverberating, I am renewing my calls for the federal government to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, especially those that call directly for the federal government to fully fund searches and the return of remains. Despite the fact that the TRC clearly indicated the existence of thousands of unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada when it was released in 2015, the most recent searches have been funded by First Nations. As Indigenous people grapple with the trauma and loss inflicted by genocidal policies like residential schools, we must move beyond the symbolic and provide action and reparations.

[VIResident]

("....") “The sad thing about this is that these kids were the hopes of the next generation and they were survivors of intergenerational trauma because many of their parents had gone to residential school,” Ms. Grace said. “And now they’ve suffered that direct trauma.”

 

 

 

First Nations-run school authority faces multimillion-dollar lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse WILLOW FIDDLER

 

THUNDER BAY

PUBLISHED 3 HOURS AGO

 

https://www.theglobe...dollar-lawsuit/

 

Jack Wicksey was charged with sexual abuse and exploitation in 2018 over alleged offences when he was a student services worker for NNEC, a position that gave him direct access to and authority over students.

According to the claim, Mr. Wicksey had been charged around 1994 with sexual crimes against a former male student in Sioux Lookout. The victim died by suicide before Mr. Wicksey could stand trial.

The investigation was reopened around 2015 and an arrest warrant was issued in 2017, according to U.S. media reports, for sexual offences against seven former students, including five of the plaintiffs.

 

Mr. Wicksey, who was 65 when he was arrested in June, 2018, had been living with his wife in a trailer park home in Los Fresnos, Tex., where they owned property, since at least 2016. He was extradited to Ontario, and died in 2020.

The 32-page statement of claim, filed in Thunder Bay Superior Court, argues that NNEC was vicariously liable for Mr. Wicksey’s misconduct because it had control over him and his duties as a staff member and house counsellor.

 

Edited by VIResident, 20 July 2021 - 04:38 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

^

 

 

According to the legal claim, the former students were preyed upon when they were at their most vulnerable, including when they were homesick, coping with parents divorcing and sick family members, or during counselling sessions. They were at times given drugs and alcohol, becoming too intoxicated to remember what occurred, but waking up to physical evidence they had been violated and sodomized.

 

They say the sexual assaults they endured resulted in feelings of overwhelming guilt and shame along with physical pain that led to alcohol and drug abuse, difficulty sleeping, flashbacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts and attempts to end their lives, and inability to trust others, including loved ones.

 

 

 

CBC:

 

A student at Marieval Indian Residential School at the time, Lerat, 72, said he and other children heard a hubbub of activity coming from the cemetery near the school, located about 164 kilometres east of Regina. They saw workers and a truck removing headstones and wooden crosses. 

Several stories have surfaced in the community about what happened to the grave markers, and they all agree on one thing: a priest ordered their removal in the early 1960s. But no one story explains why, and officials from the Catholic Church, which ran the school until the late 1960s, have not been able to confirm the account or explain why either.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 July 2021 - 04:50 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

British Columbia is expected to name the newly appointed First Nations liaisons who are supporting its residential school response.

 

Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin is scheduled to introduce the liaisons and provide more details on the province's $12-million residential schools response fund early this afternoon.

 

https://vancouverisl...-fund-1.5516063

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 July 2021 - 07:39 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The B.C. government says it will provide immediate funding to First Nation communities to help with searches for human remains at 21 former residential schools or hospitals, including six sites on Vancouver Island and smaller islands nearby.

Communities can receive up to $475,000 for each site as they carry out searches, planning, technical work and archival research, while also engaging with elders, survivors and other First Nations that have an interest in an area, said Murray Rankin, minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation.


https://www.timescol...aves-1.24344369

Ahousaht First Nation is applying for up to $950,000 to search two sites at the Ahousaht Residential School and the Christie Residential School, said Chief Greg Louie.

Louie said while it’s important to get the work started, it’s also bittersweet. “It’s really, really sad and unfortunate that we have to do this work. It should have never, ever happened.”

Louie said he’s unsure if the funding will be enough to complete the work, but it will help to get things started.
Ahousaht recently received $75,000 through a fundraising campaign to search former residential school sites.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 July 2021 - 04:59 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

and now we already see some mission creep as the money spigot is turned on:



Five residential schools operated on or just off the coast of the Island, along with a hospital in Nanaimo.

William Yoachim, a Snuneymuxw First Nation councillor, said Tuesday’s announcement is a good starting point, because it means the subject is receiving attention, and many people are not aware of what happened at the Indian hospitals.

The institutions operated as racially segregated hospitals, although the original justification for them was to isolate tuberculosis, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
The hospitals were understaffed and underfunded, which resulted in poor living conditions for patients, who were often forced to spend years in the institutions because it was a crime for Indigenous people to refuse to go to a hospital or leave before being discharged.

While medical treatment for tuberculosis improved in the 1940s and 1950s, Indigenous patients were subjected to outdated treatment, and in some cases medical experimentation. Survivors have recounted physical and sexual abuse.

“When everything is said and done, the mainstream population is going to see similarities between residential schools and the Indian hospitals,” said Yoachim, whose late mother was in an institution.

The First Nation will likely apply for funding to search for remains near the former hospital, which operated from 1946 to 1967, as soon as possible, he said.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 July 2021 - 05:05 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Efforts to search for missing, buried residential school children need to be Indigenous-led, chiefs say

 

'Give us the reins, give us the authority, you have proven you can’t watch our kids when you said you would,' says Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare, addressing the government, adding the search must be Indigenous-led

 

With hundreds of unmarked graves discovered at four residential school sites this year, some First Nation chiefs are welcoming the federal funding for more searches, but say money needs to flow faster to carry out the much-needed work in their communities.

 

 

https://www.hilltime...iefs-say/306574

 

 

 

 

 

to nobody's surprise.

[Victoria Watcher]

Search of former Mohawk Institute grounds should be a criminal investigation, survivors say

 

The investigation, he says, should be guided by survivors. That's why elected council is spending $1 million to establish a survivors secretariat.

 

The issue of unmarked graves at residential schools drew national focus this year with the discovery of grave sites in Kamloops, B.C. Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation said preliminary findings from a survey of the site by ground-penetrating radar, combined with previous knowledge and oral history, indicated 215 children had been buried at the site.

In Brantford, Mohawk Institute survivors have said they are part of the planning to do a ground search.

 

"I think there's a few boys around here," said 82-year-old John Elliott, who says he attended the school with his brother at age 10. 

________________________

 

The Mohawk Institute opened in 1828 as a day school for boys before it broadened to boarders and girls in 1834.

 

The school closed in 1970, making it one of the oldest and longest running residential schools in Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...itute-1.6110935

 

why now i wonder?  51 years after it closed?  and why do you need a $1 million secretariat for the investigation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

news 1130:

 

 

Residential school survivors request criminal investigation into deaths at former Brantford site 

 

Residential school survivors are asking police for an official criminal investigation into the deaths of dozens of children at the former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ontario.

The Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council will be supporting the creation of a Survivor Secretariat that will have $1 million in funding so they can begin the investigation.

It will be used until funding from the provincial and federal governments is obtained.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 July 2021 - 01:24 PM.

[spanky123]

^ I would be in favour of this, would just like to see the evidence presented first.