My Truth: Truth and Reconciliation and the lived experience of an Anishinaabe-Kwe (Indigenous women) Flight Attendant CUPE Airline Division Member for 26 years.
Who am I?
Aanii, Melanie ndizhnikaaz. Mississauga ndonjibaa. Oji-Cree ndaw. I am a mixed race urban Indigenous Flight Attendant and Indigenous Educator. I have two mixed race daughters who are status Indian as well. My maternal side is Oji-Cree. We are registered on the band list at Michikan Lake First Nation in Treaty 9.
In my formative years, the talk about my brave mother’s attendance and grandmother’s attendance at the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School was simply that they went and survived. I did not know the intent of residential school was to take the Indian out of the child. This was done by removing them from their loving families, connections to ancestral territory, disconnect from the traditional ways of living, loving and caring for the land and family was severed. By the time my kokum/grandma returned she did not connect with her siblings or old friends anymore. The impact was not growing up with your siblings, getting raised by your parents and extended families to be replaced by cold, heartless nun, church teachers, priests and other residential school workers who believed the Anishinaabe children were less than human and don’t deserve to be loved or even fed healthy traditional foods that sustained my family since time immemorial. Many of their classmates experienced unspeakable violent assaults, starvation, and neglect from treatable diseases all in the name of the Christian god and ordered by the pope’s Doctrine of Discovery. It basically said that explorers and settlers had the permission from the Christian God to claim the land of any peoples who did not identify as Christian. This document is a living document and is still used by governments and corporations to take our children and lands. I will not get into the horrors of what happened to my own mother and grandmother(kokum). What i want people to know is that this was a genocide against my people. This became huge news a few years back when the discovery of unmarked graves was found outside of the Kamloops Residential School. Whispers of where young girls were impregnated by priests had to destroy the babies by burying them in secret places and some were even incinerated. This is awful and I ask myself all of the time how this much evil could continue over hundreds of years without anyone speaking up for the poor children. Now that we know and accept that this was an ugly part of all of our history who identify as Canadian, we understand this to be the Truth that we always knew happened and was now reaching the whole country. This was when my own mom slowly began to share her stories of trauma that were not erased or forgotten as a survival mechanism. She told her grandchildren and daughters in front of a sacred fire while we wept for her and all of the Indigenous kids who survived the genocide.
This is why we need to continue honouring the survivors by listening to their stories and most importantly, to prevent this atrocity from ever happening ever again.
As for the second part, Reconciliation means to me that the institutions who caused the harm and genocide be held accountable. We heard the apologies from political and spiritual leaders, but what about the action piece? There is a very well done document called the 94 Calls to Action by Judge Murray Sinclar:
https://www.reconciliationeducation.ca/what-are-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-94-calls-to-action
I hope and pray that in my lifetime I will see all 94 calls to action in fruition for the sake of my own children and for future generations.
We ask that you wear an Orange Shirt or your new Orange Shirt Pin from the company on September 30th to show solidarity with the Indigenous People in Canada.
Lastly, I don’t want everyone to see Indigenous People and only think of residential schools, stolen land, protestors, missing murdered Indigenous Women, racism, school dropouts, etc. It is my hope and prayer that all of my colleagues see our Indigenous Members as a diverse collective with beautiful cultures and traditions, brilliant minds(many of us have Master’s Degrees or are famous artists, beaders, performing artists, and very successful side companies) In spite of the attempt of genocide to our people, we are still here, and we are thriving!
Miigwetch (thank you) for taking the time to read my personal reflections on what September 30 National Truth and Reconciliation Day means to me.
Supports for Survivors
Health Support Info
If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week:
Residential School Survivor Support Line: 1-866-925-4419
Additional Health Support Information
Emotional, cultural and professional support services are also available to Survivors and their families through the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program. Services can be accessed on an individual, family or group basis.
– Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador: 1-866-414-8111
– Quebec: 1-877-583-2965
– Ontario: 1-888-301-6426
– Manitoba: 1-866-818-3505
– Saskatchewan: 1-866-250-1529
– Alberta: 1-888-495-6588
– British Columbia: 1-877-477-0775
– Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut: 1-800-464-8106
You can also reach out to the Component EAP Committee for assistance:
Melanie Cormier, Masters of Education focal area: Indigenous Leadership in Education
Anishinew Kwe Indigenous she/her Elementary Liaison/Youth Advisor
In solidarity,
Olivier Faucher-Boisjoli
Co-Chair, Diversity & Inclusion Committee