Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

332 • Truth & Reconciliation Commissionschools system and its continuing legacy. They now encourage the broader Canadianpublic to do what they have done: to learn and to be transformed in understandingand in commitment to societal change.Speaking at the Saskatchewan National Event, trc Honorary Witness and a formermember of parliament, the Honourable Tina Keeper, who is also a member ofthe Norway House Cree Nation, talked about the importance of honouring individual,family, and community relationships and memory, her own emotional involvementin the ratification of the Settlement Agreement, and the struggles surroundingCanada’s apology. She underscored the strong contributions that Aboriginal peopleshave to make to national healing and reconciliation.Yesterday was an incredible opportunity for me personally to let the tears flow,and they flowed all day long. And I didn’t do that when I was in the House ofCommons. I had the privilege of delivering the speech on behalf of the officialopposition when the Agreement was tabled in the House, and during thatspeech I had to stop midway and breathe ... because I didn’t think I could do it.I kept thinking of my family and my extended family and my grandparents andso many of the people in the communities.… [O]ur cultures, our languages, ourvalues, and spiritual beliefs that have taken care of us at this gathering … theywill become tools for the healing of a nation. 200At the Québec National Event, trc Honorary Witness and a former prime minister,the Right Honourable Paul Martin, reminded participants about the role that educationplayed in the attempted destruction of Aboriginal families, communities, andnations, and the role it must play in repairing this damage. He said,I’ve talked to a number of the people here, some of the members of parliamentare here … and the question we asked ourselves is, “How come we didn’tknow what happened?” ... I still can’t answer that.... [L]et us understand thatwhat happened at the residential schools was the use of education for culturalgenocide ... [let’s] call a spade a spade. What that really means is that we’ve got tooffer Aboriginal Canadians, without any shadow of a doubt, the best educationsystem that is possible to have. 201Although some Honorary Witnesses already had significant knowledge of Aboriginalissues, including residential schools, through the act of witnessing Survivors’ testimonies,they learned about this history in a different way. At the SaskatchewanNational Event, a former prime minister, the Right Honourable Joe Clark, said thatthe Saskatchewan National Event gave him a better understanding of the intergenerationalimpacts of the residential schools, and a better sense of the challenges andopportunities for reconciliation with the rest of Canada.When I came to take my place this morning, I knew the storyline, if you will.I knew what had happened. I had some idea of the consequences it [the