Some survivors have told us that the they are grateful for residential schools for they believe that the schools were far better than their home environments that were violent or neglectful and impoverished. They believe that the schools gave them opportunities they would never have otherwise had.
I accept that, but we must always keep in mind that we are talking about home environments that were largely created by the legacy of residential schools. The past several generations of survivors were invariably intergenerational survivors of parents who also went to the schools.
When I hear comments such as that, I am respectful of the view, but I can’t help but think that its like giving thanks to the government’s child welfare system for saving children, without acknowledging that the government that created the child welfare system that is saving the children, destroyed the families the children are being saved from, to begin with. It’s difficult and illogical to give a saviour credit when it’s also the perpetrator.
Mizana Gheezhik (Sen. Murray Sinclair) 