He’s sorrowful…but not sorry
by Special Correspondent Jessica Yee
My inbox was abuzz yesterday with news of the Pope’s admission that he was “sorrowful” for what happened to residential school survivors; which came as a result of the much anticipated visit to the Vatican by a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations here in Canada.
Sorrowful. But not sorry. Is that an important distinction?
Chief Phil Fontaine says “it’s a very significant statement” and that we shouldn’t be distracted by the fact that it’s not an apology. I already know that Phil doesn’t speak for me; we kind of parted ways with the whole AFN endorsing of the Olympics in Vancouver 2010 issue, but to me it is an important distinction that the Pope did not actually say he’s sorry.
In fact I’m not a huge fan of government apologies at all – but I do understand what it means to so many of our people. Last June, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the historic residential school apology I wrote about it and felt angry – angry that he can make an apology and basically wipe his hands clean of it – which is what the Residential School Payment Settlement represents to me. Yet for so many of the survivors it represented a start to the path of healing, something they had been waiting to happen for so long, and gave them peace of mind that the government appeared to take accountability for its horrendous actions. Particularly when a number of our communities are still actively practicing Christians.
I think this is in part a generational difference. Since the apology in Canada has happened I have spoken to many people, young and old, across these borders and like talking about residential schools itself; talking about the apology was not that much easier. I wasn’t alone in my anger and frustration, plenty of descendants of survivors were pissed off and felt like Harper was getting credit for something that wasn’t even his idea; not to mention the raw end of the deal we all get for being descendants and the intergenerational trauma we are suffering through that isn’t really being acknowledged on any level. For other non-Native people it was the first time they had even heard about residential schools; and yes our “Canadian” and “American” history courses are that shitty.
Boarding schools are still operational on a few Native American reservations, although they are now tribally owned and serve a purpose to house students who may be living in farther away remote communities to be able to go to school. But do students get to learn the past about them? I think we teach as we go along, and when we can. A few weeks ago in Duncan, British Columbia where I was presenting a film for the Cowichan Aboriginal Film Festival, we got to witness the unveiling of the box that had been created for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was accompanied by a long and powerful ceremony. I heard a few whisperings around me like “what does this have to do with the film festival?” but in my heart I knew, that when we gather, it’s an opportunity to teach our own people what so many don’t want us to know about. It has something to do with all of us.
It’s important to recognize the burden we all bear to make sure this part of the colonizers history gets told – truthfully. While countless survivors still carry so much pain that they can’t even tell their families, children, and grandchildren what happened to them, the thousands of our people who are homeless or self-medicating through whatever means to make it through each day, may not ever find out they are eligible for a settlement payment, never mind that the government made an apology, or that the Pope finally said something. Who is going to tell them? Exploiting people’s pain is only too easy, and this cause has already been taken up by non-Native people who are so self-righteous in their claims for “justice”, while every now and then giving the floor to the actual survivors – who deserve to be leading this movement themselves.
Two years ago I was in Kamloops and decided to visit the reserve where the band had taken back the residential school and turned it into a museum. I didn’t even know that this was the case until I got there (they advertise it as a Native-run cultural museum which was what piqued my interest). I was walking through the various rooms with the Director, commenting on how much the museum had preserved from the residential school days; the uniforms, the trophies, journals, etc to which he replied “This was the actual residential school – and I used to go here”. My mouth dropped, I felt so ignorant, and didn’t know what to say, until all I could think of was “How are you doing this?” He told me that when he left residential school, he ran away from his community for a number of years, in search of something to fill a whole that had been created inside him, but could never find it. “This is my home.” he told me. “I have to deal with that so I could come back. People need to know what happened. And the only way we’re going to get anywhere is if we actually admit what happened.”
(Photo credit: CBC News)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Thea Lim wrote:
Thanks for writing this Jessica. Whenever I hear about these kinds of apologies, as a settler I feel very torn. My first instinct is to feel angry that so many people suffered unimaginable horrors, and all that bodies of authority do is make statements that are somewhat meaningless once we examine the lack of political action behind them, or make quasi-apologies. But even while I am angry I can see that these kinds of apologies mean a great deal to people who went through things I really can’t ever understand – things that also implicate me as a settler.
What you have to say about intergenerational difference and the continuing lack of education about residential schools is enlightening – as always I appreciate hearing what you have to say!
Posted 30 Apr 2009 at 12:37 pm ¶
Jadey (aka Carolyn) wrote:
Colonization turns everything into a weapon; family, homes, knowledge, citizenship, everything. And as long as the re-writing of history goes on, colonialism in Canada won’t end. The narrative of “sorrow” and regret does nothing to acknowledge the power structure that those “sorrowful” actions helped produce, and how this structure is still being profited off of to help legitimate the colonial foundation that Canadian sovereignty rests on.
Thank you for sharing your story about visiting the museum in Kamloops. I hope I have the opportunity to visit it in the future.
Posted 30 Apr 2009 at 1:46 pm ¶
Jadey (aka Carolyn) wrote:
Also, I think that a lot of people don’t feel sorry. Sorry entails some kind of personal responsibility, and a lot of people just don’t make the connection. They don’t see the personal profit of their privilege. What I personally wanted most out of Harper’s apology was for it to serve as an indicator to unclued-in masses that residential schools are *something to be sorry about*. Not just for the government or religous organizations, but for anyone who identifies as Canadian who doesn’t already know everything that identity entails. That residential schools were a form of economic and cultural control that did a bang-up job at accomplishing their explicit objectives. So good, in fact, that they’re still working on a lot of people. And the rest of us are still benefitting.
I really don’t know if it did that. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t, but maybe the effect will be slow in coming. As for the Pope’s apology… par for the course. I really, really hope that is does help alleviate some pain for some victims. But heartfelt sorrows are not the same as specific condemnation of and actions against contemporary social oppression.
Posted 30 Apr 2009 at 2:04 pm ¶
CrzyCatDC wrote:
Why settle with “sorrowful”? Why is it always the ones who have been oppressed that must settle for something less than what they deserve? Why is the Pope still held in such high esteem among Natives when he was and still is a leader in an institution that sough to systematically rip a people from their culture and their culture from them.
His “sorrowful” or “sorry” means nothing at this point if there is no action behind it, no acknowledge of how the past has impacted the present.
Posted 30 Apr 2009 at 2:33 pm ¶
jvansteppes wrote:
Good to see a post on this story.
These kind of apologies or quasi-apologies would be more meaningful if they weren’t carefully crafted to
avoid paying reparations and used the proper terminology. Residential schools were not a tragedy or an accident, they were a carefully constructed strategy for accomplishing genocide, but we’ll never hear Harper speak honestly of this because that might involve questioning the foundations of Canada itself.
The Canadian government simply wants to appear progressive on indigenous issues by making lukewarm apologies for the past while they continue to rob people of their land and treaty rights in the present. Why not back up such apologies by being accountable to nations in Caledonia, Barrier Lake, Tyendinaga and so on?
Of course these statements are worth it to the degree that they bring relief to some survivors and their descendants; they have a right to hear these acknowledgments, but I still find the Vatican and Harper just as disingenuine as before.
Posted 30 Apr 2009 at 4:46 pm ¶
Maysie wrote:
Thank you for this post, Jessica. You write about these issues so well.
The pope is an idiot. Sorrowful means sad doesn’t it? Who gives a shit? Colonialism isn’t about the pope’s feelings! WTF?
I think I read somewhere that apologizing publicly has legal implications, ie lawsuits. So apologies (and non-apologies) are worded very carefully when coming from doofuses like the pope or Stephen Harper.
And you really nailed it re. all of us needing to know the truth of Canada’s colonial history. The real truth. There are people out there, like the man you met in Kamloops, who have stories that all of us need to hear.
And as a settler/immigrant I am implicated in what Canada is and what the history is of the land I’m “squatting” on.
Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:06 am ¶
Jess wrote:
Jessica, I liked this a lot. The boarding school history here in the US is usually missed and glossed over.
The apology thing — well, to me it’s a nice symbol, but speaking as a member of a “tribe” that suffered industrial scale genocide — I have mixed feelings.
For instance, I can acknowledge that my people are settlers and I get a lot from that. But when a national leader says they are sorry I sort of think, a) you had nothing to do with this personally, and b) why not do something a little more concrete? Sorry implies a personal connection that to me is sort of irrelevant. I don’t care about your feelings, I care about what you do, you know?
Let me draw the parallel again: I don’t expect the Germans or any individual German to apologize to me. It won’t bring back anybody. Even though I could go out and find plenty of living people still around who actively participated. They’re there.
But I do expect that government policy reflect that you don’t want genocide to happen again, and that you don’t do things that facilitate it elsewhere.
I don’t get angry when I hear various governments say they are sorry for their complicity (and the Vatican has a bit to answer for here). I sort of say “meh, show me something real and we’ll talk. Show me what you’re doing with your own ethnic minorities.”
As to the payments, I’d be interested to know how they structured the settlement — was it any more than symbolic or is it enough to have a real effect? In the US I don’t think anyone even got that.
Posted 01 May 2009 at 7:03 am ¶
Rob Schmidt wrote:
I’m sorry that the Pope is so filled with sorrow. Won’t someone please help him with his pain? So many souls to worry about, so little time. Maybe we should throw him a party or send him on vacation (two weeks in Tahiti?) to alleviate his suffering.
Posted 01 May 2009 at 3:05 pm ¶
Paz wrote:
Perhaps he feels sorrowful but not sorry because he was not responsible for what happened?
Ugh that sounds harsh. I mean he nor the Catholic Church were directly involved, but he feels sorrow for what happened. Like people may feel sorrow for the Holocaust even though they may have no personal connection to it.
Just pure speculation.
As for the concept of public apologies, I think it is significant in that it is public recognition of a dark part of a nation’s history instead of conveniently ignoring it and relegating Natives’ role in history to the 1600-1800s in history books. Of couse investing in programs to help Natives would be best, but I’m just saying, it’s a step in the right direction.
Posted 01 May 2009 at 11:58 pm ¶
Jadey (aka Carolyn) wrote:
@ Paz
Uh, yes, the Catholic Church was directly involved. It was one of the major religions in Canada (and US? I don’t know there) that was setting up and running residential schools on behalf of the Canadian government (in fact, I think it was THE major religious organization involved, aside from Anglicans and Methodists). It was explicitly and undeniably directly involved in a very significant way.
Everyone who benefits from colonialism is responsible for the effects of colonialism to the extent that they have power to resist or dismantle the colonial power structure. The Pope and the Catholic Church benefit from the colonizationa and control of the First Nations people, which residential schools were (and still are) a major part of. The Pope is also in a position of power to condemn his Church’s actions as well as the interpretation of doctrine that was used to justify these actions.
Instead, he just felt kinda bad.
Posted 02 May 2009 at 8:28 am ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:
I too don’t believe public apologies are enough without some financial reparations to victims or descendants of victims, and promises to never engage in such racist actions again. Otherwise these apologies seem like half assed attempts to “bridge the gap” between an oppressive government and the oppressed population, all the while maintaining the status quo of oppression.
Re: these boarding schools, I’m interested in knowing whether America ever had just schools as well. If it did, I never heard of them. I do remember reading awhile ago that Australia had schools like this to forcefully keep the children of its Aborigines population away from their mothers.
Posted 02 May 2009 at 5:51 pm ¶
Jadey (aka Carolyn) wrote:
RCHOUDH: Yes, there were. I don’t know too much about them, but Canada got the idea for their industrial/residential schools from the US after a Canadian government official went visiting down there. The specific function was controlling the indigenous populations.
Posted 02 May 2009 at 6:30 pm ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:
Interesting and disturbing to know…thanks Jadey (aka Carolyn). The US has (as far as I know) never publicly acknowledged this fact, I’m guessing because then it would have to acknowledge other uncomfortable facts, like how it still isolates its indigenous population in these distant reservations run by casinos and it doesn’t acknowledge them as being independent entities (like that Supreme Court case showed awhile back).
Posted 03 May 2009 at 12:58 am ¶
Jadey wrote:
I’m not too up on what has happened and is happening with regards to relations with First Nations people in the US, but as far as I’m aware the historical, political, legal, and cultural contexts between the two nations are radically different, resulting in very different outcomes. A striking thought when you consider that some First Nations societies expand across both sides of what has become the Canada-US border.
I believe that in general there was more overt violence in the US and an even more overwhelming population influx and disturbance of settled Native populations, whereas in Canada the main landgrab efforts centred around treaties (frequently disingenuous) and illegal squatting (most of BC was never legally ceded by our own laws!), and more of the kind of grotesque “humanitarian” assimilation that the residential schools represented, though certainly tactics of all kinds would have been employed everywhere. (I am not an authority on any of this, and accept all corrections for any knowledge or experiences that I misrepresent.)
For some details on the industrial/residential schools in the US, I dug up a pdf file of the The Davin Report (Nicholas Davin was the charming gentleman who recommended that Canada make use of the residential school system):
http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/multimedia/pdf/davin_report.pdf
Posted 03 May 2009 at 6:32 pm ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:
Thanks Jadey!
Posted 04 May 2009 at 1:09 am ¶
Yonah wrote:
Wow, this pope is just one long gong show. Survivors deserve so much more.
This comment, though:
Colonialism isn’t about the pope’s feelings!
kind of made my day.
Paz, please read the comment at #10. Also: persons and institutions which aided and profited from the Holocaust should be sorry today (and there are a lot of them around).
Posted 04 May 2009 at 7:17 am ¶
Alston wrote:
True or trueful (read: false)?
“Truth is to truthiness as sorry is to sorrowful?”
Is that even a word, “sorrowful”?
Posted 07 May 2009 at 11:39 am ¶
celtichoctaw wrote:
Thank you Jessica for blessing us once again with your insight, clarity, mindful reporting, activist work and wisdom that goes way beyond your years. As always, I find special resonance with what you have to say and your very significant efforts.
I also really appreciated Jess’ response to this piece, as I often enjoy what she has to share with us on this blog. Acknowledgment may not be as significant as an apology, but forgiveness is a much stronger act of courage, strength and healing and a much bigger victory. To acknowledge is the first step in this important process.
Acknowledgement opens the way to seeing the truth or “knowing”. I am a firm believer myself that by discovering, knowing and reveling the truth, the truth will set us free.
Posted 18 May 2009 at 4:04 am ¶