Canada

Today is the 7th anniversary of the Government of Canada’s Residential Schools Apology. If we truly believe that the Gospel is good news for this time and this place, we must respond.

This history is our history. It shapes who we were, who we are, and who we will become. Let us take this opportunity to shape our future for the good.

Here is my experience of first day of kindergarten with my son Antonio. We are very close to each other. I wondered how the first day of school would be for him and how I would be. Well, this is how it went. Antonio was excited and cooperative the very first day of school. I was cautiously optimistic. The second day of school however was a complete 180. He had some verbal protests in the morning as he was getting ready but I didn’t want to inflame it all by opposing him directly and escalating his protests.

A First Nations baby who had difficulty breast-feeding was diagnosed with allergies that required special formula. The Canadian federal government would not cover the cost of the special formula, so the nutritionist begged the company for free samples. A non-aboriginal child in the same province would have received the formula through provincial health care. 

So the neighbourhood became a place of welcome, not an agency but a neighbourhood. We began to paraphrase the African saying, “It takes a neighbourhood to welcome a refugee."

Although it is sad to say, the truth is that Aboriginal education in Canada is stuck. It cannot move forward with much-needed reform. The issues needing reform are many--there are significant inequities between funding given to on-reserve Aboriginal schools and off-reserve schools. Less than half of First Nations people graduate high school, compared to almost 90% of non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

We knew the basics; we knew would be staying at the Indigenous Family Center (IFC) in the north end of Winnipeg, we knew we would be helping around the community, and we knew that we wanted to make a difference in the lives of those we served. What we certainly didn’t expect, was that they would also make a difference in our lives.