Her story of an Indigenous man whose son had recently taken his own life after a hospital rejected him because they viewed him as a security risk, rather than treating him medically, was an example of ongoing racism, illustrating that the Indigenous community continues to live under the knee of the system. To me this was the most powerful part of her talk.

 

This ongoing treatment of Indigenous Peoples is also illustrated in Tanya’s book, Seven Fallen Feathers, about the deaths of seven young Indigenous People in Thunder Bay and the questionable and incomplete handling of their deaths by the Thunder Bay police. Nine cases were reopened and reinvestigated by a multidisciplinary task force because the OIPRD said they weren’t properly investigated by the Thunder Bay Police. Of the nine, four cases are of the Seven Fallen Feathers.

 

Tanya also questioned why Marathon, a community of 2,000 non-indigenous people, could get a secondary school and hospital while larger Indigenous communities could not.

 

She reminded us of Martin Luther King and his two Americas speech: the good America with all of the attributes of a great society and the other America of slums, violence and children lacking opportunities and growing up with a feeling of inferiority. The result: difficulty getting employment and incarceration. This, she said, in part is Canada today and she called on all Canadians to support Indigenous People. 

 

In thanking Tanya, President John told her, “We are here to help in whatever way we can.”

Our Indigenous Service Committee and the national organization HIP (Honouring Indigenous Peoples), which grew out of our club and whose focus is education, awareness and building relationships, are both well positioned to answer Tanya’s call and work in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. 

 

A donation in recognition of Tanya’s talk was given to Toronto Council Fire.

Miigwetch Tanya for your message and your reminder we need to know the truth before we can have reconciliation. 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission we have been faced with realities that our indigenous brothers and sisters have known for generations. One of the most egregious aspects of humiliation and abuse inflicted on the original peoples was the Residential school system.

Many of us naively thought it was something of the past, when in reality, it continued well into the lifetime of most of us at this meeting. The Rotary Club of Toronto has been deeply committed to indigenous issues for well over a decade and we know that there was much more to the story than what was presented. The community itself knew; it was their children that went missing. The discovery of 215 bodies of children at one residential school was not a surprise, but rather, a confirmation of what these beautiful young souls' families already knew.

This is only one school; there are many more. The thought is gut-wrenching and abhorrent. The Rotary Club of Toronto is committed to partner with our indigenous brothers and sisters in the fight for justice and the pursuit of truth and reconciliation.  Let us now take a moment of silence to honour the lives of these innocents and the anguish it has caused their families and their communities and shame to our country.