This is how the Canadian goverment treated their natve people
Ottawa forced to turn over reports of electric chair use at residential school
Share:
1.1K
Text:
Share on print
(22)
Jordan Chittley
Jordan Chittley, CTVNews.ca Writer
@jchittley
Published Wednesday, January 15, 2014 8:22PM EST
Last Updated Monday, January 20, 2014 9:50PM EST
For the past year and a half, lawyer Fay Brunning has been fighting to get the federal government to hand over documents about the St. Anne’s residential school.
It’s a school that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a judge described as having the worst cases of abuse out of any residential school in Canada. Brunning, who represents survivors, says they were taken away from their parents at age five or six for 10 months a year. They were forced to eat vomit, subjected to sexual and physical abuse and put in an electric chair.
“The little ones first,” recalls Edmund Metatawabin to the Wawatay News in July. “And I was, I think, about number seven or eight, meaning I was one of the smaller ones.”
Photos
Residential school survivors seek compensation
Edmund Metatawabin, 66, a survivor of St. Anne's residential school in Fort Albany, Ont., is seen outside Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Tuesday, Dec.17, 2013. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
The children sat on a wooden seat with their arms strapped to a metal chair. A Brother held a wooden box with a crank ready to send the electric charge.
“Your feet is flying around in front of you, and that was funny for the missionaries,” Metatawabin says. “So all you hear is that jolt of electricity and your reaction, and laughter (of the Catholic school administrators) at the same time. We all took turns sitting on it.”
An Ontario judge recently ruled the federal government must turn over the documents, meaning adjudicators in the future will have the documents when making decisions in compensation claims under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Act. Survivors will no longer have to prove the level of abuse in each case.
“They are very relieved the justice system has worked,” says Brunning about survivors she spoke to today. “They want to believe the apology meant something.”
Brunning says because of the residential schools, survivors are still afraid of authority. For many, they are marginalized individuals and often find themselves on the wrong side of the law. “If law can work in their favour, that is probably a first.”
Here is an interview with a survivor:
St. Anne’s is in Fort Albany in northern Ontario. It was open from 1904 to 1976 and had hundreds of aboriginal children from remote James Bay communities walk through its doors. A police probe from the 1990s turned up evidence of horrific abuse, including an electric chair. A government had said Ottawa received the documents from police on an undertaking they would not be passed on to anyone. Ontario Superior Court Judge Paul Perell says the government misinterpreted its obligations and should turn over the more than 7,000 records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The reports must also be turned over to the Independent Assessment Process, an out-of-court process for the resolution of claims of abuses suffered at residential schools.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt told Kevin Newman Live in an email the government is “pleased that the court clarified we can now disclose St. Anne’s residential school documents, and, now that we have the court’s permission, we will do so.” His office declined to answer any follow-up questions.
“(This is) a huge victory for the survivors of St. Anne’s and a complete repudiation of the Conservative government who have undermined the rights of these victims again and again,” says New Democrat MP Charlie Angus to CP.
“I feel ashamed. I grew up in northern Saskatchewan and didn’t know this was going on,” Brunning says. “I went to law school because I like to help people and this is really rewarding work.”
After a year and a half and more than $250,000 spent from Brunning’s law firm Sack Goldblatt Mitchell, she is very relieved at the decision and will keep fighting for survivors.
“How do you give people back their lives,” she says. “We have to come to grips with our past.”
Share this story:
1.1K
Report Error
More from KNLive
(Credit: Regina Parking Shaming/Facebook)
New Facebook page shames people for bad parking in Regina
Brooklyn Tavern planter box in Leslieville after owner Cindy Wilkes replanted some flowers following a burglary. (Credit: Cindy Wilkes)
Toronto business owners outraged as plants being stolen from in front of shops
Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, is pictured in an aerial view in Kitimat, B.C., on Jan. 10, 2012. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Northern Gateway construction unlikely to begin within decade despite government approval: Expert
Newfoundland iceberg
Massive icebergs hug coastline of Newfoundland making for amazing images
Showing 1 - 20 of 22
Gail
Sep. 24, 2014
8:29 PM
Abuse
In those days parents could abuse kids and the value of the day was to mind your own bloody business. People stayed away from the edges of parenthood and teachers were respected so much as to be allowed to beat a child without anyones blessing or permission. That was bad enough if you were an unlucky kids born into a dysfunctional home and even that definition is not what it is today. Go ahead, shame the kid, call him names and beat the sense into him...but try not to leave bruises where they show. I think we know wrong from right no matter what value is in place at the time. I'm thinking that it would have been a huge act of courage for anyone to stick up for those victims of arrogance and righteous indignation! Whatever inspired these sick pseudo christians to think it was CHARITY to inflict culturecide on a whole group of children for so many years? It is sickening but I can well believe it was that bad. Now we are adults and we have the chance to shout out for anyone who is being bullied and crushed and make a stand by watching timidly no longer.
Nishe1000
Sep. 23, 2014
8:20 AM
Abuse
Let's hope the documents aren't all blacked out like so many documents the government has handed back!
ANorton
Sep. 22, 2014
9:40 PM
Abuse
My heart breaks so sad....my dad and his brothers went to residential school in northern sask. they suffered unmentionable acts of child abuse from the nuns and priest, but b/c they were considered Metis at the time as my grandmother was enfranchised for marrying my grandfather who was white...and she lost her treaty rights...they had to pay to send their children to school think they were given them a better education and life...my dad is 60 some and only started talking about all the abuse he suffered...yet the government refuse to give any compensation for their abuse they suffered in these school which are very sick...not like this would heal what these children suffered at this schools but it would be nice for the government to also acknowledge that a lot of Metis children also were very abused in these residential schools which caused a crippling, rippling affect on many of these childerns, childerns, to suffer.....
Aki Ikwe
Sep. 22, 2014
7:46 PM
Abuse
to answer GlenExPat: my mother was abused in school and almost 20 years later my sister was also abused by the same teacher....... she retired 5 years later and she hated first nation children I remember her like it was yesterday and it makes it so hard to trust any kind of institution..... my sister was in her class in 1961
Angela Squires
Sep. 22, 2014
3:52 PM
Abuse
I'm ashamed that the Anglican Church was also involved in residential schools. St Anne's Catholic School was certainly the worst we know of. So much evil has been perpetrated in the name of religion, it's a wonder that people still believe. I hope we can find a way toward healing that helps those who suffered and prevents current generations from suffering. BC's First Nations may be the saviours of our beautiful Province by fighting against pipelines in the courts and perhaps on the land. I stand with you.
Brian Read
Mar. 27, 2014
11:14 PM
Abuse
Now I understand how Germans feel when they hear about Auschwitz and Janowska.
laura makokis
Mar. 4, 2014
9:22 AM
Abuse
When I was 16 yrs old I remember sending a letter of Thank you to our parents. We were blessed because our parents moved with five other families and moved us further into the bush, about 40 miles further than our hometown. They were determined to keep us out of the "mission" because that was it was called when we were growing up, our Mother home schooled my older siblings. Both our parents were in residential school, eventually our Father was striped of his treaty rights because he chose to work off reserve, he had to obtain a script to leave to go work off reserve. We were then classified as Metis' but we grew up with and a lot of our relatives were "mission kids"..I married a man who wen to residential school and he hated to share some of his experiences, he never received any compensation because it meant he would have to disclose. My belief and his was that no amount of money could erase what the people went through. Yes, my parents did us a bif FAVOR..
Vern
Jan. 23, 2014
3:54 PM
Abuse
This is pure shame on the churches behalf, It is because of this outrage many First Nations people refuse to have anything to do with Christianity. Remember Church leaders. YOU WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO GOD FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE. Shame on you all.
Shmang Smith
Jan. 23, 2014
3:39 PM
Abuse
the very same evil that was discussed in this article is present today in the comments that decry, deny and ridicule this very story...its not hard to see the evil then, and see it now. i mean, how blind does one have to be? how naive? how optimistic? its not a matter of any of that...its just how lame some people are, and they show their disdain for humanity with every foul breath they take.
BarbaraFann
Jan. 22, 2014
1:31 PM
Abuse
(quote) "I find it highly doubtful that there could be a culture of abuse dating 72 years. Generations of teachers came and went during that time and its hard to believe that all of them would look the other way while this was happening." Seriously? Was the Holocaust also a dream? Did slavery not exist? Were there never human sacrifices? Has the entire history of mankind been a story of kindness and loving treatment for all? "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." (Burke) or for good men to deny that such evils actually exist. Please note that verb is still present tense.
Marie
Jan. 20, 2014
9:00 PM
Abuse
It makes me sick to read about these atrocities committed by our churches and our government. What a bunch of unholy sadists. I am so sorry. My grandmother was a Home child sent over from England so I know what damage to a whole generation can occur, also affecting the next generation too. Canadians should know the truth and be fully educated.
Jeannie
Jan. 20, 2014
10:53 AM
Abuse
Both my father and aunt had to endure many atrocities at the hands of these caregivers. I don't know how any one who lived through this can ever trust the church and government again. I know I have absolutely zero faith in both agencies. It's a shame that the church and the government continue to hide and protect the perpetrators.
Heather Stecher
Jan. 20, 2014
2:12 AM
Abuse
Thank you, kimmy, for using the word that needs to be acknowledged used. These kids were tortured.
Melanie
Jan. 19, 2014
10:31 PM
Abuse
I thought we heard or all. Yet, additional forms of abuse are disclosed. How horrible....I am totally disgusted by the perpetrators' horrific, violent, inhuman treatment of Aboriginal children. Words are lacking to express how horrified I am. To the victims and survivors : I would like to express my deepest and sincerest compassion. May you find peace of mind and happiness.
MD B
Jan. 16, 2014
8:20 PM
Abuse
No one has the right to hide evidence of abuse; especially that of children. This is absolutely disgusting to read. Bullying and abuse was a common way to discipline back in the day, and it was just as wrong back then as it is today. There needs to be accountability on the part of the perpetrators, and validation of the victims feelings and suffering in an effort to find some sort of justice.
GlenExPat
Jan. 16, 2014
5:29 PM
Abuse
I find it highly doubtful that there could be a culture of abuse dating 72 years. Generations of teachers came and went during that time and its hard to believe that all of them would look the other way while this was happening.
Brendalee Tee
Jan. 16, 2014
2:31 PM
Abuse
Canadians and the Catholic church owe the First Nations people for unimaginable humiliation, pain and suffering. This MUST BE dealt with. I commend the lawyer(s) for standing up for all those families that have paid the ultimate price.
letty
Jan. 16, 2014
12:06 PM
Abuse
give them the money... and hats off to a lawyer for taking a chance on getting absolutely nothing... this is an abomination.
David
Jan. 16, 2014
7:50 AM
Abuse
Sue, Sue, Sue, seems to be the only way to help lawyers make a living, how much of the monies will the persons affected get, it is not usually much and how big a chunk to the ambulance chasers?
Sara Manyflowers
Jan. 16, 2014
12:45 AM
Abuse
Our Grandfather always told us that the government was just waiting for all the Indian Residential School Survivors to die off !!
Older comments
Advertisement
Vid
Read more: http://knlive.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-forced-to-turn-over-reports-of-elec...
Follow Us
Like Us
Problem with this page?
