Dedicated To
Gar, Cindy, Jordie, Cher, their Naks, their children. My Chips:
You are the Bright Beams
That gave light to the Great Shadow in my life;
You are the Bright Colours that Shone through my Dusty Life.
Ama ya Hlguuhl’m gyat, Hlguuhl’m Hanak, Xwdakx, gant agwi dakx.
Dip Dorinda:
You tolerated my swings;
You quieted and soothed my rage;
You mothered our children without complaint;
And for that, you are my old friend.
Ama ya.
Irene E. Patsey & Eddy Patsey:
You Infused Vital Gitxsan Essence and Resilience in Me to be Who am Today.
Ama ya, Nox gant Nigwoot.
Dip Yum and Other Former Students & Survivors
You are the res-brotherhood and the res-sisterhood;
Coping, individually and together, was just enough to get us by;
But now, it’s time to by-pass our yankxw;
For now we have our own iss boo’ps and lok’m xwdakx;
What legacy do we leave behind?
Will they be yankxw and wilted like us?
Or … You say!
Ama ya.
Between 1940 to 1980, an estimated 1,560 to 2,600 school-aged Gitxsan children were taken from 65 wilphl Gitxsan and placed in an Indian Residential School for up to 13 years. Prior to the apprehension, they thrived in a very Gitxsan family environment. Many former students wonder why mom, dad or the simogyat (hereditary leader of the wilphl Gitxsan (the most fundamental entity in Gitxsan society) did not intervene at the time of the apprehension.
On Return Everything Had Changed. Students were finally allowed or sent home. On return, residential school attendees were fundamentally changed by the experience. There was no home-coming celebration. Moms and dads were no longer attentive to them. Former students correctly read the body language of moms, dads, other family members, and hereditary chiefs: they were a burden and can only be tolerated. Parents have not discussed the loss of their children to the Indian Residential School system. The children of former students took the full force of the dysfunction of their residential school parents. They silently wonder why their res-school parents behaved the way they do, why they were troubled, why they were not attentive, why they were angry and violent, why they were silent, why they were distant or why they were alcoholic. On return, the sigidimhanak (the designated family keepers, always women) accepted them and resumed the grooming in accordance to Gitxsan customs but were bewildered why the former students were no longer fluent in Gitxsanimax, were distracted, not attentive, and not obedient to their tribal obligations.
What happened in the residential schools? Gitxsan children, together with other tribal children, were forcibly confined in residential schools from September to June of each year. Most returned home for the summer break from July to August. Many did not. Every day was regimented according to Canada’s and the church’s program. (Regiment means “to impose strict control or discipline on somebody or something, often to the extent of stifling flexibility, individuality,or imagination.1” ).Dorm supervisors, never trained in child-care, implemented and enforced the daily routines. The minister or priest evangelized Christianity to a captive audience in the chapel every day. Teachers taught the federal curriculum (“the subjects taught at an educational institution, or the topics taught within a subject.1”). Parents, family, essential Gitxsan norms and customs were never referenced nor discussed. Gitxsan children were forbidden to speak Gitxsanimax, the language that encoded the essence of being Gitxsan. Brothers and sisters were separated. Both the boys’ and girls’ side were further segregated into dorms: 1st dorm (6 & 7 years olds), 2nd (8-11 year olds), and 3rd dorm (12 years and older). Each dorm had an attending supervisor. Selected boys laboured on the farm. Every child was assigned a daily chore. If a child does not submit to the regimen or did not perform adequately, corporal punishment was doled out freely and routinely, many times excessive. Not only was physical abuse common, so was psychological, emotional, spiritual, and sexual abuse; not only by employees, but by older boys and girls as well. Blotchy faces and red hair was epidemic caused by malnutrition. Although not always overt, tribal rivalry was ever present. The Cree vs. Blackfoot vs. Haida vs. Niska vs. Inuit vs. Gitxsan, all played out daily. Threats, intimidation, bullying, and fights, some sanctioned by supervisors, were common place. Survival of the fittest was the modus operandi (“a way of operating or doing something”1) Older siblings or friends watched out for the little ones but were not always successful. Periodically, a child would be hospitalized for TB. Many students forged lasting friendships, brotherhoods, and sisterhoods only to lose touch in the post-residential school period in their lives.
The Bad of All the Bad. The neglect, abandonment, abuse of every stripe and color was wrong, finally admitted by Canada’s government in PM Stephen Harper’s historic June 11, 2008 apology. The bad of all the bad was the denial and disruption of vital daxgyat (strength, authority, and confidence), gwalx ye’inst (a particular legacy that can only be garnered through focussed and directed grooming within a and peculiar to a wilphl Gitxsan), wilnaatahl, and Gitxsanimax to an estimated 2,600 Gitxsan school-aged children from 1940 to 1980. And disappointingly, the formal apparatus of the Gitxsan is not alarmed nor outraged.
1990s: Righteous Anger. Finally, national conferences focussed on and discussed the Indian Residential School experience prompting the beginnings of righteous anger (“If you allow yourself to become angry [with the residential school] for their mistreatment to you, it can give you the courage to begin to break some of your unhealthy emotional ties to them.3”). Litigation ensued, where former students claimed physical, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and cultural abuse. Many Gitxsan former students engaged to seek legal redress (“to provide compensation or reparation for a loss or wrong experience1.”). Gitxsan plaintiffs were frontrunners; their cases precedent setting. After pilot projects, including the Gitxsan, Canada established the Alternate Dispute Resolution program as a less adversarial out-of-court approach to settling claims. As well, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established to prompt and promote the healing of the legacy of residential schools. But, in spite of the millions of dollars secured by the locals between Terrace and Smithers, many former students, their families, and communities remain in denial. Thus, breaking the unhealthy emotional ties associated with the Indian Residential School experience was nominal and sporadic (“occurring at intervals that have no apparent pattern”1) at best. And perhaps, the default coping behaviour for the Gitxsan is silence, to not do anything, hoping it will just go away.
Some Say “Get Over it!” Perhaps not surprisingly, some of our own, with a lot of arrogant bravado, flippantly (“showing a lack of seriousness that is thought inappropriate1”) criticize former students, “Get over it!” or “You got your money. Now, quit your whining!” or “Let’s not open that can of worms.” Where there should have been outrage, the Gitxsan were silent and dismissive, even calloused, indifferent, and insensitive.
There was outrage when the 5 day school week was reduced to 4. There was outrage when the bingo halls were declared smokeless. There was outrage when fish nets were confiscated. There was outrage when the crown did not recognize Gitxsan rights and title. For each, the formal apparatus of the Gitxsan responded accordingly and it was successful.
The IRS Experience Happened. From 1940 – 1980 up to an estimated 2,600 Gitxsan children were removed by the Indian agents to residential schools. On close examination, one immediately correlates the pervasive (“spreading widely or present throughout something1”) and multi-generational impact of the residential school experience to the current state of the nation of the Gitxsan. Is the hangover from historic trauma and the residential schools why the Gitxsan are anemic (“pale and not looking good; lacking vitality, strength, or courage1”) as indicated by the miserable state of the Gitxsan nation. How can the misery be explained?
Gitxsan State of the Nation:
. The average unemployment is 62% (Source: Skeena Native Development Society).
BC Stats reports for 2006:
. Of 77 local health areas, Upper Skeena is the worst
. Worst of 78 for Index of Economic Hardship
. 3rd worst of 78 for Index of Crime
. 16th worst of 78 for Index of Health Problems
. 2nd worst of 78 for Index of Education Concerns
. 5th worst of 78 for Index of Children At Risk
Commenting on the Nov 22, 2007 CBC Hazelton area suicide crisis article: “We’re aware the suicide rate’s gone off the Richter scale.” — Health Minister Tony Clements
Only 1,000 of 13,000 Gitxsan or 7.7% are fluent in Gitxsanimax; by 2038, not one Gitxsan will be fluent. The state of the nation is not good.
Wii Glok (mega-embarrassment). The state of the nation of the Gitxsan is the consequence of the untreated hangover from the IRS experience & the effects of historic trauma. Even though the Gitxsan can point blame on Canada and the churches, the outstanding question is why the Gitxsan have not invoked their unfettered (“not subject to limits or restrictions”1) daxgyat and rights. Instead they default to the INAC, Health Canada, NNADAP, BC Treaty Commission, or the IRS Settlement Agreement agenda. “D’ik nu’m” (We are ashamed.”) is never uttered. It follows then: healing salve is not applied to the injuries. The IRS experience has never been acknowledged nor discussed by the simgigyat and the sigidimhanak. The residential school blemish is like a festering sore in the underbelly of the Gitxsan. Flipping it off is no longer acceptable. Denial is no longer an option. It warrants the focussed and heart-centred attention of the former student survivors, parents, children, the wilphl Gitxsan, simgigyat, sigidimhanak, and the kali aks.
Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. Just prior to the court certifying a class-action in 2006, an agreement-in-principal was announced by Canada, the churches, and appellants. The final agreement was finally court-approved 2007. The components: a Common Experience Payment, an Independent Assessment Process, a commemoration program, further healing funding, and a Truth & Reconciliation Commission. It is now being implemented. Many Gitxsan applied. On June 1, 2007, Canada established the Truth & Reconciliation Commission to ruminate, document, discuss, investigate the IRS experience and facilitate authentic reconciliation. Within its 5 year term it will hold 7 national events; it will also hold community events. Submissions are voluntary and will be housed in an archive as permanent record of the IRS experience.
Sinister Social Engineering by Canada. "Put simply, the residential school system was an attempt by successive governments to determine the fate of Aboriginal people in Canada by appropriating and reshaping their future in the form of thousands of children, who were removed from their homes and placed in the care of strangers … [the] marching out of those schools, the children, effectively resocialized, imbued with the values of European culture, would be the vanguard of a magnificent metamorphosis: the 'savage' was to be made 'civilized.' " (1996. Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples).
Duncan Campbell Scott is credited as the architect of the assimilation policy and for the establishment and operation of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. The “Indian problem was considered a thorn in the side of Canadian politicians since before Confederation. In fact, he warned, unless they were assimilated into mainstream society, natives "would produce an undesirable and often dangerous element in society." A report prepared for Prime Minister John A. Macdonald's government said the best way to "civilize" native children was to take them away from their homes and families and put them in boarding schools. This was because "the influence of the wigwam was stronger than that of the (day) school," and that native children should be "kept constantly within the circle of civilized conditions." Federal Indian Affairs Minister Frank Oliver, a prominent Edmontonian, said in 1908 that only education could "elevate the Indian from his condition of savagery" and "make him a self-supporting member of the state and eventually a citizen in good standing." One Indian Affairs official said in the 1890s that the objective of residential schools was to "obliterate" the children's connection to their heritage and culture:” (Source: Andrew Hanon, edmontonsun.com)
Historic Apology. On June 11, 2008, Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC), Hon. Stephen Dion (Leader of the Oppoistion, Lib.), Mr. Gilles Duceppe (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, BQ), and Hon. Jack Layton (Toronto-Danforth, NDP) rose in the House of Commons and apologized to the survivors of Indian Residential Schools and parents of former students. The government finally admitted their assimilation policy and the operation of the residential schools was wrong.
Call for a Formal Response. In fulfilment of ancient tribal obligation, the Gitxsan must finally respond to the Indian Residential School experience. The response should include:
1. Gitxsan nu’m. We are a distinct people complete with innate gwalx ye’inst, daxgyat, and Gitxsanimax, oots’in, ayok, lax yip, adaawkx, limx o’y, pdek, liligit, lax ts’ap, kal ts’ap, si’satxw, halyt, yukx, and all essential elements. I anticipate a firm statement to affirm Gitxsanship. And further, a declaration that the wilphl Gitxsan is the most fundamental entity in Gitxsan Society.
2. A Declaration from the Simgigyat and Sigidimhanak acknowledging the Indian Residential School experience. More over, that Canada and churches attempted to
a. Deny gwalx ye’inst,
b. Deny daxgyat, and
c. Deny Gitxsanimax.
3. A Statement of Impact on Gitxsan Society including the correlation between the current state of the nation and historic trauma, the transmission of historic trauma, and the Indian Residential School experience.
4. A Statement of Resilience
5. A Statement of Reconciliation
6. A pronouncement that the Gitxsan will formally respond through a submission to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission invoking Gitxsan legal apparatus.
7. The pronouncement of a 25 year Gitxsan renaissance.
To Do Nothing Is Even a Bigger Glok. The consequence to doing nothing promises more misery. The worse case scenario is to not reverse the current dismal state of the nation. The Gitxsan will finally be mainstreamed into Canada, the very goal of the Indian Residential School system. If the Gitxsan do nothing, picture this: June 21st, 2038. My grandchildren will attend a downtown parade to commemorate aboriginal day with a day off with pay where they will wave their Gitxsan flag declaring their ancestry. They will then continue with a family BBQ, share the genealogy, pictures. Then, they will watch a documentary on the National Geographic channel on the Gitxsan. Remnants of the Gitxsan will survive but the essence will be snuffed out, forever.
If You Are Gitxsan. If you are Gitxsan, it is critical that you covet, embrace, and animate your essence, Gitxsanship. Be cognizant (“having knowledge about something”1) of your history: Gitxsan Basics, Historic Trauma, the transmission of Historic Trauma, and Indian Residential Schools.
To Former Students. Rise above the mundane and the yankxw (the metaphor describing the aftermath spoilage of the Indian Residential School experience; as in yankxw hanax, moldy bread). Find and embrace righteous anger, the pre-requisite to vital action towards being worthy and being whole again. Lift up your eyes and be in awe of your personal strength in surviving, your Gitxsan resilience, imbued in you in your first six years of your Gitxsan life. You have about 15 to 20 years left. Begin fashioning a legacy for your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren so they thrive in fundamental wilphl Gitxsan, essential gwalxw ye’inst, vital daxgyat, and the elegant Gitxsanimax. Make that personal pledge for a personal renaissance (revitalization, new beginning).
To the Parents of Former Students. Your silence speaks volumes. The pain of being denied your babies is etched in your oots’in (spirit, aura). It was near impossible to resist the Indian agent and the RCMP who took your babies away and placed them in an Indian Residential School. Nox gant nigwoot, please find solace in the return and survival of your babies; probably yunkxw but alive. The Indian Residential School experience is not your fault.
To the Children of Former Students. Understand and acquire insight in your parents’ behavior. Knowing will give you relief. It is not that your mom and dad did not love you, it took all of their essence just to survive the ordeal. They were distracted; consequently they were not attentive and obedient to their tribal obligation. Covet your mom and dad; pledge that your life will be much better.
To the Simgigyat and Sigidimhanak. As hereditary leaders, the current after an ancient line of countless before you, vital daxgyat is yours to manifest as you see fit for the betterment and well-being of the wilphl Gitxsan and, therefore, kali aks Gitxsan. Does it wait on, attached to, and dependent on an honorarium? Is it only to be used in a hurtful, hat’agw’m goot fashion that is now the norm in Gitxsan domain? Do you stand by yourself? Is the Gimlitxwit elitist? Is the dialogue about Gitxsan well-being and prosperity only your prerogative? You are irrevocably and historically attached to the lax ts’ap of your wilphl Gitxsan. They are essential to your chieftainship. Why is there no dialogue with them? Do you see that silence is now the problem? For the Indian Residential School file, do you see that it is now time to take the stones out of your mouth? Do you see that your ts’ap was vitally injured in the residential schools? Do you see that the residential schools assaulted your wilphl Gitxsan? Do you see that the IRS denied your ts’ap critical association with the wilphl Gitxsan? Do you see that their intent is coming to fruition now? See the miserable state of the Gitxsan. Do you now see that a 25 year renaissance is now called for; else, the elegant Gitxsan will be mainstreamed into Canada, extinct? The Gitxsan agenda is paramount; BCTC, INAC, Health Canada agendas are secondary.■
1Encarta Dictionary
2Oxford Dictionary
3Engel, Beverly. Healing Your Emotional Self
