NATIONAL CENTRE FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN’S VOICES IN HEALING AND RECONCILIATION: WOMEN FROM THE NCTR’S SURVIVORS CIRCLE SHARE THEIR UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
BY KRISTIN MARAND
Female Survivors have much to contribute to the necessary conversations about the residential school experience, from their unique perspectives on being a girl in the system, the ways their experiences shaped their families and family lives, to ideas on how to move forward. Five Survivors from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Survivors Circle share their truth on why hearing from women is essential and integral to healing – for themselves, their communities, and Canadian society.
“We matter. We have a story to tell. We have some ideas how to remedy some of the wrongs that were done,” says Tagaaq Evaluardjuk-Palmer. “I think it would make an impact on the people who funded residential schools, who ran the residential schools, who taught in residential schools, who worked in the system, for them to hear the little girls’ perspective on what
happened to them. Because when we tell our story, we are speaking as that child who was there, not as the Elder, the woman sitting in front of you, but as a young girl in a school system that was foreign to us, foreign to our culture and our beliefs.” A lingering effect of colonialism remains the subjugation of women and feminine perspectives. This is glaringly
obvious in the continuing epidemic of Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Historically within Indigenous cultures, women and Two-Spirit individuals who embody feminine energy have played vital roles as emotional and spiritual supports within their communities. This strength, however, was undermined by the residential school system.
4 CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
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