The Truth About The Truth Is
— that it almost always sees the light of day. Sometimes it takes a while, but you can usually depend on it happening regardless of how hard, or how often, it gets lied about.
Aboriginal group releases list of mass graves
Sylvester Greene says he and three others were hired by a minister at the United Church residential school in St. Albert to dig a grave for a little boy back in the mid-1950s.
“The boy was about five years old,” Greene, 64, told Sun Media in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
“I remember the grave being too short for the coffin.” They then had to enlarge it to make the coffin fit, he said.
Churches that ran residential schools are disputing the presence of grave sites.
But yesterday, the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared – a Vancouver-based aboriginal group examining residential school issues – released a list of 28 mass graves across Canada, four of which are located in Alberta.
[.....]
Annett said the group received information that the Mounties are planning to dig up the grave sites and remove the remains.
“So we want the information out in the public so people are aware of the sites and can protect them because we really feel an independent inquiry needs to happen.”
On April 15, the aboriginal group will launch its own inquiry and is planning to hire forensic experts to analyze and determine the causes of deaths of those buried in the mass graves.
(emphasis mine)
Of course they disputed allegations of mass graves, they also disputed allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse didn’t they?
Personally I hope that if any of those church officials are still alive they get nailed to their own crosses and left to think about just how unchristian they really are.
Wow. And I thought nothing about these people could shock me.
This is going to be bigger than Mount Cashel and the Residential Schools combined when those bodies are dug up.
When I didn’t see fairly immediate comments I was pretty sure this was one of those posts that was going to languish comment-less until it fell off the bottom of the page – in a way I could almost understand that. What does one say to the idea that
* in addition to the indignities forced upon Aboriginal people by the state in deciding what was good for them in the forced relocations and forced renaming, and
* in addition to mental, physical, and sexual, horrors inflicted on innocent Aboriginal children by the church in the name of the benevolent state deciding what was good for Aboriginal people, and
* in additionAboriginal people disappearing forever after being sent out to hospitals,
– we read that the mass graves that the church and the government have denied for generations have now been found. Holes dug in the ground and the bodies of children who died of sickness, neglect, abuse, or some combination thereof, dropped in and forgotten with, if the stories the elders tell are any indicators (and we have no reason to disbelieve them), the parents and relatives never told what happened, or where the bodies of their children were buried.
As for exhuming the bodies I do not trust the church, nor the government, nor any of their agents or agencies to exhume the bodies, nor do I trust the church, or the government, or any its’ agents or agencies to count them or determine cause of death – we have already heard to many lies from all of them and they have shown that they are not to be trusted.
Do these people not understand that people will continue to search for evidence of the truth – ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THEY ALREADY KNOW THE TRUTH AS THEY HELPED DIG THE GRAVES THEMSELVES?!?
I saw a documentary done in B.C. about a former United Church Minister who was basically fired because he was like any normal person and spoke out against the church’s former policies it’s pursuant cover-ups. Some of the things he discovered included kids digging graves for their siblings, and sick kids being buried in graves they themselves helped dig.
The mass graves piss me off, in no small part due to the fact my father had to look for 6 years before he was able to locate his mothers (anonymous) grave. The fact that it took decades to bring the information to light pisses me off even more, enough so that I seriously re-think my allegiance to Canada as a country. But the fact that they lied about them, and continue to lie about them, makes me want to go Vigilante on these assholes. Anyone watch Sin City before?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – people should understand what the demographics are going to be in Canada in 20-30 years, especially the large minority of the population that will be aboriginal. I am going to make sure my son knows as much as I do and more about what was done to us. And unless there is a sudden and dramatic shift in the way the government treats aboriginals in this country, there’s going to be some massive changes, and some massive political and legal scalping going on.
“Annett said the group received information that the Mounties are planning to dig up the grave sites and remove the remains. ”
I’m curious as to why the RCMP would be digging up the graves – this doesn’t make any (logical) sense to me. This makes me wonder who the group received the info from. If indeed accurate, that’s a scary question with a potentially scary answer.
From the article -”South of the Charles Camsell Hospital” – which has been shut down and boarded up for years although I’ve heard a rumor that someone is going to (somehow) turn it into condos???? WTF – who would want to live in an old hospital (although now that I think of it something similar was done with an old hospital on Whyte Ave so WTF do I know, anyway?). However if the rumor (condos) and information (RCMP digging up graves) are both true, there’s a huge “WTF is going on?” question.
I will posit, hopefully, that IF the RCMP are indeed digging up these graves it is based on information received from various reports in the residential schools investigations, and they will be looking for (a) cause of death and (b) identifying the remains so that families can be duly notified so they can return the remains to a place of remembrance that will meet their individual religious and/or cultural beliefs.
Yes, I know, very Pollyanna-ish, but there is a chance I’m right. Please, should evidence appear to contradict me, I want to know.
I would imagine that identifying bodies is going to be problematic and, I further imagine, that there will be more ducking and dodging and denying than actual concern over who, why, and what; that is, after all, the pattern that has emerged within the church and the government where ever Aboriginal abuse issues have been concerned.
That said, I have the appropriate Google news alerts set and will be posting as news becomes available.
You might want to post some of the highlights of Kevin Annett’s history of attacks and threats that have been made against the man for the last 10 years. It’s on the hidden holocaust website.
Rev.Annette has certainly been through the wringer on this. We’ve spoken on a few occasions, and I’m convinced he is a good person doing the right thing with respect to all of this.
But you watch… the Puppet leaders will come out with both barrells in a smear campaign against him if the exhumation actually reveals what is alleged. Everytime Kevin does some real damage to the status quo, he is mercilessly attacked and threatened by those who have a vested interest in maintaining it.
I worked with a Cree CBC producer awhile back. From northern Quebec, Emma was taken to a residential school on James Bay in northern Ontario. She lost a brother there. Emma’s story about finding him is here: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2008/200801/20080114.html
At one point, there was nearly a 50 per cent annual death rate in the Indian residential schools. They died from malnutrition, disease, poor or no health care, terrible living conditions. Then there was the sexual and physical abuse, the beatings and possibly murder.
My grandfather went to Shingwauk, present-day Algoma U in Sault Ste, Marie. He told us once that he and his brother were taken into the cellar there, beaten with a big leather belt. They dragged him out. He said he never saw his brother again. School records don’t even register my grandfather’s brother, but people back home remember his name and that he attended that school.
So many stories. So little interest.
I wonder if anyone will make another movie about res schools – and make the central story about the moral agony of the white school teacher? Shame. I’d really pay to go see that one again.
My Uncle told me about one of his experiences in the Residential Schools. The kids were really really hungry because the staff went out of their way to only provide the most minimal level of nutrition. So stealing food was a sort of regular activity. The staff caught on to it – and one night they left out a whole pile of carrots and brown sugar.
The little kids raided the kitchen and were eating those carrots and brown sugar in scoops…
The next morning when the called the kids out of bed, they knew which of the kids had been stealing. The ones who were suffering from diahreah were all punished… since carrots and brown sugar especially combined act as a very powerful laxitive.
My Uncle recalls with great bitterness how he’d evacuated his bowels by acciddent and made a mess , and how he was punished both for stealing food
and for making a mess and was ordered to clean it up, even though the laxitive had not stopped working. It was a humilating painful ordeal, and it provied the staff with much laughter and amusement.
Sick Effing Bastards!
Oh, and that’s just the kind of story I can talk about. Other stuff that was told to me in confidence I could not repeat without the express permission of the individuals involved.
SL: “That said, I have the appropriate Google news alerts set and will be posting as news becomes available.”
Here’s one.
“…and, I further imagine, that there will be more ducking and dodging and denying than actual concern over who, why, and what;…”
For the record, this is not the first (nor hopefully the last) time that I have pointed out something in AB that is different from Ontario. We actually check these things out and show some (maybe not enough, but give credit where it is due) respect to the departed. Note the LRT remains – the company I work for is on that job, and work was halted for quite some time while they tried to figure out who was buried there (unfortunately only the bottom half of the skeleton was recovered, if I recall correctly), although they did start work a mile or two down the line to not completely throw the schedule off.
And no, there was no ducking or dodging in that case – I’m not sure a final determination has been made, but all efforts have been made to make sure the remains are identified to the best of today’s science’s ability, with what they have.
What’s that they say about “assume”? You’re better than that.