Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

268 • Truth & Reconciliation Commissionone another, having the silence broken and the stories starting to be told.... Ithink that’s where it begins, isn’t it? Between us as individuals sharing the storiesfrom so many different perspectives so that we can understand. 59The report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples noted that for some timeafter settler contact, the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peopleshad been one of mutual support, co-operation, and respect. Despite incidents of conflict,Aboriginal peoples’ acceptance of the arrival of Europeans, and their willingnessto participate with the newcomers in their economic pursuits, to form allianceswith them in their wars, and to enter into Treaty with them for a variety of purposes,showed a wish to coexist in a relationship of mutual trust and respect. 60 That aspectof the relationship was confirmed on the non-Aboriginal side by evidence such as theRoyal Proclamation of 1763 and the Treaty of Niagara of 1764, as discussed earlier.The trust and respect initially established ultimately were betrayed. SinceConfederation in 1867, the approach of successive Canadian federal governments tothe Crown’s fiduciary obligation to provide education for Aboriginal peoples has beendeeply flawed. Equally important, the consequences of this broken trust have seriousimplications well beyond residential schools. The trust relationship and Canada’sparticular obligation to uphold the honour of the Crown with regard to Aboriginalpeoples goes to the very heart of the relationship itself.As the original peoples who had occupied the lands and territories for thousandsof years throughout the region that became Canada, Aboriginal peoples haveunique legal and constitutional rights. These rights arose from their initial occupationand ownership of the land, and were affirmed in the Royal Proclamation of 1763,which also decreed that the Crown had a special duty to deal fairly with, and protect,Aboriginal peoples and their lands. Subsequently, the Dominion of Canada assumedthis fiduciary obligation under Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867, which gaveParliament legislative authority over “Indians, and lands reserved for Indians.” Section35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 also recognized and affirmed existing Aboriginal andTreaty rights.In several key decisions, Canadian courts have said that the federal governmentmust always uphold the honour of the Crown in its dealings with Aboriginal peoples. InR. v. Sparrow (1990), the Supreme Court ruled that “the Government has the responsibilityto act in a fiduciary capacity with respect to aboriginal peoples. The relationshipbetween the Government and aboriginals is trust-like, rather than adversarial … thehonour of the Crown is at stake in dealings with aboriginal peoples.” In Haida Nationv. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) (2004), the Supreme Court ruled that “in all itsdealings with Aboriginal peoples, from the assertion of sovereignty to the resolution ofclaims and the implementation of treaties, the Crown must act honourably,” and that“the honour of the Crown … is not a mere incantation, but rather a core precept that