I don’t listen to podcasts as a rule, but the only one I do listen to is The Secret Life of Canada. Teresa and I started listening to this CBC podcast on the way to and from the cottage. The podcast is available on CBC Listen and other podcast sites.
The show is co-hosted by two talented, passionate and funny women. Falen Johnson is a playwright and performer. She is Mohawk and Tuscarora from Six Nations and now lives in Toronto. Leah Simone-Bowen is a writer, performer and producer. She is a Toronto-based, first-generation Canadian from Alberta, whose family hails from Barbados W.I. The tagline for the podcast is "the country you know and the stories you don’t". The podcast follows stories that didn’t make it into the history books we read at school.
Now in its fourth season, the podcast episodes cover a variety of topics, some serious and some light but all interesting and informative. Given the background of the co-hosts, a number of the episodes focus on racialized Canadians, particularly Indigenous Canadians. Although often injected with humour, as the moderators boo and jeer historical figures who were settlers and colonizers of Canada, the stories are frequently very emotional both for the co-hosts and the listeners (at least they are for me). Because of Johnson’s background, she talks very personally about the many wrongs perpetrated on Indigenous Canadians.
For those of you that follow my blog you know I am particularly interested in and frustrated with the issues around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Much of the volunteer work I do at Amnesty International Canada focuses on these two areas. I am currently executing a social media campaign trying to bring focus and attention to the lack of progress our Canadian government has made on the 94 Calls to Action that came out of the final TRC report published in 2016 (more on this later).
Episode 1 of the fourth season of the Secret Life of Canada focused on The Boy in the Picture (photo attached to the blog). You can listen to the entire episode here - https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/203-the-secret-life-of-canada/episode/15892925-s4-the-boy-in-the-picture.
The episode is sad, thought-provoking and revealing. As has often been the case, the more I learn about residential schools, the more I realize how little I know about the subject. Just to be clear, my knowledge is low; my understanding is even lower.
Let’s start with I had never seen or heard of this photo before listening to the podcast. Despite being a well-known photo relating to residential schools (a simple Google search of “boy in the picture“ brings up the photo and related stories) I was completely oblivious to its presence. Unfortunately, this was also the case for my knowledge of the history surrounding residential schools in general. Although I've spent more time on the subject, the sad truth is I still know very little. I did not know that the boy in the photo’s name was Thomas Moore Keesick. The photo appeared in an 1897 Indian Affairs report and was apparently included as propaganda to show how the Regina Indian Industrial School had successfully converted this “Indian (savage)” into a western civilized individual. I did not know that the photo was probably staged. It was very unlikely that Thomas came to the Industrial School wearing the clothes pictured on the left (particularly given there is evidence that he attended a different residential school prior to attending the Regina one). I did not know that the photo now is often referenced as an example of all that was wrong with the residential school system. I did not know that Thomas died at a young age from TB, likely contracted at the school.
I am frustrated that I and I fear the majority of Canadians, continue to be woefully ignorant of the history of residential schools. The physical, emotional and sexual abuse is still being covered up by both our governments and the churches involved. As I wrote in my blog post, Truth and Reconciliation, I do feel the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites has raised the general awareness of Canadians as to the horrors that occurred there. I think there is still much Canadians need to learn before there can be true reconciliation.
One of the points that Falen Johnson makes in the podcast is that these organizations were not schools. Schools are safe places where children go to learn. Residential and Industrial schools were places where Indigenous children were separated from their families and sent to for the sole purpose of ”removing the Indian from the Indian”. Instead of safe places, these were places of abuse and neglect where hundreds of children died and survivors will likely never be the same. These were institutions, not schools, whose purpose was not learning. The Industrial schools were really work camps.
If you are as disheartened as I am about the lack of understanding around residential schools and the lack of action by our government, here are a few things that you can do:
Follow and read the Yellowhead Institute - https://yellowheadinstitute.org. The website and Facebook page are dedicated to Indigenous issues and produce an annual report on the progress (really the lack of progress) by the Canadian government on the 94 Calls to Action that resulted from the final report from the TRC in 2016.
Follow and read Beyond 94 - https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=1. This CBC website is updated regularly and again reports on the lack of progress by our Canadian government on the TRC Calls to Action.
Follow my social medial campaign. You can read my first blog post on Truth and Reconciliation here - https://www.thethirdperiod.ca/post/truth-and-reconciliation. Every week I highlight one of the 94 Calls to Action from the TRC that our government has not taken any action on. I highlight that Call to Action for four weeks before moving on to a different one. I try and highlight what the call to action is and why it is important. My social media campaign is open to everyone and I have tried to partner with supporting groups to raise awareness on this important issue. In the future, I will be focusing on partnering with journalists and media outlets and also putting more focus on government leaders directly.
You can follow my campaign here:
Facebook - Thethirdperiod@thethirdperiod.ca
Twitter - @ThethirdperiodC
Instagram - gdi_the_third_period_ca
Please take the time to listen to the podcast and follow the sites I reference. I would appreciate any support and sharing for my social media campaign. As always if you have questions or suggestions please contact me at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
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