{"id":5444,"date":"2014-03-28T05:09:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T12:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=5444"},"modified":"2014-03-28T05:09:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T12:09:39","slug":"alberta-k-12-students-to-be-taught-painful-legacy-of-indian-residential-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/03\/28\/alberta-k-12-students-to-be-taught-painful-legacy-of-indian-residential-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta K-12 students to be taught painful legacy of Indian residential schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EDMONTON – Alberta students are to be taught about the horrors and the painful legacy of Indian residential schools.<\/p>\n

The province has announced that all kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum will include mandatory content on the significance of residential schools and First Nation treaties.<\/p>\n

Aboriginal Relations Minister Frank Oberle made the announcement Thursday to wild applause at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Edmonton before hundreds of residential school survivors and their families.<\/p>\n

“Starting with the youngest members of our society, Alberta commits to residential school survivors, their families and communities, that Albertans will hear your stories and know your truths,” he said.<\/p>\n

Oberle said the pledge will help heal a sad and very painful wound.<\/p>\n

The curriculum is to include the perspectives of First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples living in Alberta.<\/p>\n

There will also be a program to ensure teachers are made fully aware of the history of residential schools and aboriginal peoples.<\/p>\n

“May this document help to both acknowledge a great sorrow and tragedy in our joint history, yet serve as a profound starting point for a new and brighter journey together,” Oberle told the crowd, which had spent the day quietly listening to survivors of the schools recount wrenching stories of abuse.<\/p>\n

People in the audience gave Oberle a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

There were 25 residential schools in Alberta, more than any other province. The commission estimates there are about 12,000 survivors in Alberta.<\/p>\n

One of them, Martha Marsden, told the crowd that the schools have been closed for years but the pain and disruption they caused continues to ripple through the aboriginal community.<\/p>\n

She called on Canadians to be supportive, not judgmental.<\/p>\n

“I ask other people outside our communities to understand that there is still a lot of hurt,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There is still a lot of frustration and there are still a lot of people walking around with their demons \u2014 with all the suicides, the addictions, the abuse. And we continue to fight to be caring, loving, equal individuals.”<\/p>\n

The federal government estimates that more than 150,000 students were forced to attend the schools over the years. The last residential school outside Regina closed in 1996.<\/p>\n

The Edmonton event is the last of seven national commission hearings to be held across Canada.<\/p>\n

To settle a class-action suit arising out of the residential school system, the federal government apologized and set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document the abuses.<\/p>\n

The commission is to submit a report to Ottawa, including recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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