Gerry Turcotte: Carrying the bones
The discovery of 215 bodies of children in unmarked graves on the site of the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia understandably triggered a national response of outrage and mourning. Less understandable is why this particular discovery has unleashed an outpouring of grief and accountability by community leaders and politicians when the evidence of these atrocities is so well known, and when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report highlighted this issue for special mention.
Glen Argan: We have a duty to listen to survivors
Residents of my Edmonton neighbourhood are setting up front yard signs of solidarity to honour the 215 former students at the Kamloops Residential School whose remains were found outside the school. As well, demonstrations were held in some centres regarding the detection of these unmarked graves. This discovery has moved people in a way that earlier revelations about the schools did not.
- By Glen Argan
Readers Speak Out: June 13, 2021
More thinking
Re: Fr. Raymond de Souza: Symbols matter (May 27):
Thank you, Father. Yes, just what does the Pride/Rainbow/Progress flag mean? There seems to be an unholy rush to get it up before we figure out what we are buying into here.
Editorial: Truth brings justice
“Sorry” is a powerful word, but it is only a start to heal the deep wound inflicted by residential schools.
Sr. Helena Burns: Dealing with ‘the gender talk’
Parents generally loathe having “the sex talk” with their children. Today they will also need to have “the gender talk.” Let me explain.
Robert Kinghorn: Little by little, broken lives can be healed
Have you ever had an experience in your life and you are not sure if you dreamt it or lived it? Mine goes back at least 50 years and it is as vivid today as if it happened yesterday.
Peter Stockland: Kamloops discovery wallops the Church
There’s a unique wallop in seeing your hometown linked by national and international media to the finding of a “mass grave” full of children.
Francis Campbell: Setting course on road back to normal
A glimmer of light is now visible at the end of our 15-month-long tunnel of unnatural existence.
Readers Speak Out: June 6, 2021
Rights violated
June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Recently, the Toronto Catholic District School Board passed a motion to fly the rainbow flag and celebrate Pride month in June. We believe the vote was wrong on moral and legal grounds.
Editorial: Take action — now
It came like a punch in the gut. The news of the discovery of the bodies of 215 children on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School have shaken us to the core. How could this happen in Canada? How could this happen under the roof of an institution run by Catholic religious orders? Despite all the stories of abuse at residential schools, despite the chronicling of horrors in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report of 2015, despite the history of systemic racism that has victimized Canada’s Indigenous people … this news rips opens wounds that have not even come close to healing.
Charles Lewis: Uighurs need a Good Samaritan
One of the greatest passages in the Bible is the story of the Good Samaritan.