New Manitoba Indigenous minister says residential school system believed 'they were doing the right thing'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Just minutes after he was sworn in, Manitoba's new minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations was directly challenged in the legislative building after he said those who ran residential schools believed "they were doing the right thing."
Speaking to reporters, Alan Lagimodiere said his understanding of the residential school system was that it was meant to give Indigenous children the skills they needed to fit into society.
"At the time I think the intent … they thought they were doing the right thing. In retrospect, it's easy to judge in the past. But at the time, they really thought that they were doing the right thing," he said.
"From from my knowledge of it, the residential school system was designed to take Indigenous children and give them the skills and abilities they would need to fit into society as it moved forward."
Lagimodiere was then interrupted by Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew, who said he could not accept Lagimodiere's comments, which appeared to be defending residential schools.
"It was the expressed intent of residential schools to kill the Indian in the child," Kinew said.
"It is not cultural relativism, it is not revisionist history, for us to say that that was wrong."
Lagimodiere, who is Métis, was responding to questions about the resignation of Eileen Clarke as minister of Indigenous and northern relations in light of comments made by Premier Brian Pallister, which suggested the colonization of Canada was done with good intentions.
Kinew went on to say that Lagimodiere can't defend residential schools if he wants to work with Indigenous communities.
"We all know that that was wrong," Kinew said.
Lagimodiere was then pressed by reporters on what he believed the intention of residential schools was, to which he responded "to assimilate Indigenous people into the non-Indigenous culture."
"They didn't allow them to practise any of their cultural beliefs when they were in the Indigenous schools, which its important that we recognize that that happened and do what we can to bring that culture back and to teach that in our schools today."
Lagimodiere has since said he misspoke.
"I sincerely believe residential schools were tragic and were designed to assimilate Indigenous children and eradicate Indigenous culture, he said on Twitter .
"That was wrong then, and it is wrong now."
The Manitoba PC Caucus, meanwhile, in a tweet that was later deleted, accused Kinew of "political showmanship" and of bullying Lagimodiere.
During his own news conference, Kinew said he could not stand by and listen to Lagimodiere say what he did.
He said as an honorary witness in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he had a duty to correct the record.
"This is not just a political issue, this is about our society, this is about where we live," Kinew said.
Arlen Dumas, who was re-elected as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs this week, said he was alarmed and disappointed by Lagimodiere's comments.
"There's an opportunity here to speak to these things in a truthful and meaningful way," he said.
"And to have someone just use revisionist history and develop this lens that's completely uninformed and uneducated and make these bland statements is very problematic."
Dumas said he's willing to work with the new minister, if he's willing to listen and learn. However, he said he's been frustrated dealing with the Pallister government.
"They already know what they're going to do before they even talk to us. They need to accept that they need our guidance," he said.
He also said he felt his relationship with the premier has deteriorated beyond the point of repair.
"I don't think there's a relationship anymore. I've made every effort, I've tried my best to provide tangible solutions," he said.
Pallister defends comments, again
Earlier in the day, Pallister doubled down on the controversial comments he made last week, when he chastised people involved in pulling down statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth on the grounds of the legislature on Canada Day after a walk for Indigenous children who died at residential schools.
The people who came to Canada "didn't come here to destroy anything. They came here to build. They came to build better," he said last week.
On Thursday, he said his comments were misinterpreted and that he was paying tribute to Canadians and pre-Canada builders.
"I spoke about people who came here with hope to build families and communities. I spoke with sincerity. I spoke genuinely," he said.
"I did not reference colonialism, I did not reference Europeans in any way, shape or form. I was talking about our First Peoples, I was talking about our Métis. I was talking about the people who came after them."
Asked how he could still defend those remarks when Indigenous cultures were destroyed by European settlers, Pallister said: "Read my comments. Indigenous people were the first Canadians, they were newcomers at that point in time."
"They forged a life by building. They worked diligently to do that for millennia."
Subsequent newcomers couldn't have survived without the partnerships, support and shared knowledge from the Indigenous people, he added.
Pallister had also defended his comments Wednesday after Clarke's resignation, saying "I continue to advocate that we build and not destroy."
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Thought they were doing the right thing?
So did people that burned witches...
So did every genocidal leader, including Hitler.
Culture genocide, sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, forced labor and medical experiments was the right thing to do. Guess it that old religious can do no wrong BS.
The new minister of Indigenous reconciliation....Fricking perfect, a moron in the position of reconciliation.
Later he said that he misspoke...NO SHIT.
This is just amazing. Hey, what's a little death among kids if it will get the Indian out of them. And the utter disgust that he is one of our own.
Holy shit, he is Metis, WTF is wrong with him the Metis suffered badly from the Residential schools.
He is what we would call an Apple.
Anoon... Apple??? As in rotten to the core??
Anoon Kavika...off topic..hope your family are safe..bit of a mess in NSW at the moment..they are in lock down and so are we..
But lesser of the two evils and we will get back on top of it again.. hope they stay safe and well..
Hi shona,
All is well with my Oz family, a bit of a stress on them but they are safe.
You be careful as well my friend.
Apple, red on the outside, white on the inside. In other words a traitor to his heritage.
Of course, he back-peddled quickly after the blowback as can be seen below where I posted his apology.
Ahh ok..our equivalent is what the Kooris refer to as a coconut..
Black on the outside and white inside..
Yep all good here just keeping a low profile and go with the flow..
By blood only, not by heart. He is nothing but an IINO (Indian In Name Only). And he tries to impress by wearing the feathered headdress, which his words actually shame.
My confusion, Kavika, sorry. The Minister is the one I was referring to.
This is his latest ''apology''.
I also find Pallister's comments that are in the article to be bizarre at best and make no sense when reviewing the 20,000 years that the First Nations and Inuit have been in Canada.
Meh, it took us eurotrash just 500 years to mess up what you kept pristine for 20,000 years.
Anoon ..and here 50 thousand years...
Nice to see someone speak up for reason in the middle of a moral panic.
Of course they thought they were trying to help. IF they wanted to kill Indians, they didn't need to go through the trouble of going out into the wilderness, building schools, educating them etc.. Instead, the Canadian government could have removed all the paternalistic laws it enacted to protect Indians and simply let the tribes wither away. But progressives thought the government could solve all the manifest problems they observed and documented among the tribes by educating them and assimilating them to the modern world.
Of course, as the truth and reconciliation report documents it failed in a myriad of ways. Kids died of TB, yellow fever and all the other infectious diseases kids of the era . The government failed to fund the schools as promised, including failing to transport the kids who died at school home, as they were supposed to. It was an impossible situation set up by progressives in government who had no comprehension of the problems and expense such a scheme involved, but to believe the vest majority of the people who gave up their lives to live in these schools weren't trying to do the best they could is insane and buggers common sense.
Maybe watching the many videos available on Youtube will debugger your 'common' sense.
The last two PMs of Canada one a liberal and one a conservative, also the head of the various religious groups involved including the local RCC have all said it was cultural genocide the schools were established to destroy the First Nations culture/identity. Of course, the Pope won't apologize because he has to protect the RCC from more lawsuits. Oh, and BTW, the RCC committed to pay $25 million to the First Nations and has only paid $3 million to date. Seems they skated on the rest because of a error by the Canadian government. The minister you're referring to latest comment is posted above, which of course lays out your comment for what it is, BS.
Actually, many of the schools were in the vicinity of major cities. I can provide a map of the schools and the religious groups that ran each one. The RCC ran most of them.
Could you list all the paternalistic laws that were enacted to protect Indians? The First Nations have been in what is now Canada for in excess of 20,000 years so I doubt they would wither away. That comment is something that bespeaks to white arrogance.
You have no comprehension of the political makeup of Canada.
The T&R Commission did list disease as a major contributor to the deaths but also pointed out the lack of medical care and the very poor sanitary conditions of the schools. Of course, they also added the abuse, both sexual and physical, forced labor, and other inhuman things.
What is buggers is that you refuse to see the truth even when it's right in front of your face. Also you trying to protect the RCC is disgusting but certainly not unexpected. Amazing since the RCC has been involved in genocide and slavery for a good part of its existence.
May I add that the violence to Indian children ran into the 1990's, so this was not in a less enlightened period before good medicine, but rather was just sheer brutality and lack of care. '
NYS is taking this matter very seriously. They have set up a way to sue the RCC for child abuse to both non-Indian and Indian victims.
That is good to hear. Perhaps they can make the RCC pay for all of the pedophile acceptance and trying to hide it they have done over the years.
The ''wonderful'' Jesuits had to pay $166 million to the tribes in the PNW and Alaska for sexual abuse of Indian children.
Progressives? Where does that come from? Government in Canada is a pendulum of partisan voters. from the 798 Communists to the 842 Proud something or other.
There are 798 Communists among the Canadian lawmakers? That's sure as hell news to me. I know that the New Democratic Party has been called that, but they're socialists, not Communists. And, by the way, the predecessor of the New Democratic Party, the CCF led by Stanley Knowles, is the reason you are enjoying free healthcare.
Among voters!
Oh. I mistook your comment. Do you think the 798 Communists will cause a reveolution in Canada? There were Communists among my mother's siblings who were very loving people, which is probably why I'm not uncomfortable living in a Communist country. My father, however, who ran from White Russia when he was a young teenager (because he was discovered to be bourgeois), was a devout capitalist (owned a factory with 18 employees), who was irrationally concerned his inlaws might murder him.