Demonstrators demand answers in residential school cases
Solange De Santis
staff writer
Feb 8, 2008
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/demonstrators-demand-answers-in-residential-school-cases/

Marites N. Sison 	

Demonstrators march to the Anglican Church of Canada’s national office
on Feb. 8, demanding that the church investigate the cases of children
who died at or went missing from the Indian residential school system.

Shouting “shame on the church!” and “shame on Canada!” about 20 people
picketed the Anglican Church of Canada’s national office on Feb. 8,
demanding that the church investigate the cases of children who died at
or went missing from the Indian residential school system.

Led by former United Church minister Kevin Annett, who has advocated on
behalf of aboriginals for more than a decade, the group delivered a
letter for the primate (national archbishop), Fred Hiltz, requesting
“repatriation” of the remains of such children “to their homes for a
proper burial.”

It also called for the church to “publicly name and surrender” people
“who are responsible for or complicit in these deaths and
disappearances.” Demonstrators carried signs with such slogans as
“Independent Inquiry Into Canada’s Genocide.”

Appearing on behalf of Archbishop Hiltz, who was out of the country,
Ellie Johnson, director of the partnerships department, told the
demonstrators that the church is “deeply sorry” and “deeply concerned”
about the issue and is “committed to providing information that will
help families regain their own histories.”

Nancy Hurn, the national church’s archivist, said the church has been
researching information about children who died in the schools as part
of its work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, now being
established by the federal government.

Donna Bomberry co-ordinator of indigenous ministries with the Anglican
church, read to the demonstrators a statement from the national
indigenous bishop, Mark MacDonald, who was travelling. While he said he
shares “a number” of Mr. Annett’s concerns, Bishop MacDonald suggested
that the “style” of his “non-aboriginal approach” undermined First
Nations’ attempts to uncover the truth about residential schools.

Several aboriginal people participated in the demonstration. Gary
Wassaykeesic, of the Mishkeegogamang First Nation in Ontario, told the
gathering that he could no longer speak his native language because of
his residential school experience.