Residential School Memorial Committee planned

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation announced Thursday it’s working to establish a Choutla Residential School Memorial Committee involving citizens of all Yukon First Nations.

By Whitehorse Star on June 10, 2021

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation announced Thursday it’s working to establish a Choutla Residential School Memorial Committee involving citizens of all Yukon First Nations.

“The injustices at Choutla Residential School affected First Nations far and wide, and our own citizens included,” Haa Shaa du Hen Lynda Dickson said in a statement.

“The healing journey reaches beyond Carcross and Tagish. It must include all Yukon First Nations and all who were affected by the residential school that once sat in our community.”

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation is reaching out to all Yukon First Nation chiefs to bring people together to mourn, grieve, acknowledge and find a way forward, to properly give closure to the victims, their families and the communities at large.

“We will be seeking a representative from each First Nation to create a working group to pursue events and publications that memorialize this difficult and shared history,” the statement said.

Comments (6)

Up 5 Down 16

TheHammer on Jun 14, 2021 at 10:30 am

Crunch@ '...just what 150 years ago..' It's happening now in your comments.

Up 12 Down 26

Crunch on Jun 12, 2021 at 8:01 pm

I grew up in a culture which known as WASP. White Anglo Saxon Protesant. We did not plan it that way it just happened. It was against the law not to attend school. If you skipped out and failed to attend the government came knocking. The truant officer was employed by the public school system and came to find the parents of the delinquent child. In many cases these kids were apprehended and sent to reform school if the child was out of control of the parent. Many of the reform schools had church involement. A common tactic in those days if you chose not to listen was being threatened with reform school. The main difference was that reform school was mainly teenage males but many were abused by church officals. Not sure how the issue became a one sided coin.

Up 12 Down 25

Crunch on Jun 12, 2021 at 2:56 pm

The undoing and rethinking of Canadian history is turning into the next major growth industry. Make sure the easy money keeps flowing and get on the new committees and boards with travel, per diems, meals and incidentals in excess of $500/day. Drag out the meeting and make sure it goes past noon to get the full days pay. Don't second guess anything at the meeting, just what happened 150 years ago in a totally diffferent time and era.

Up 11 Down 40

TheHammer on Jun 10, 2021 at 6:17 pm

What will happen to the houses on the residential school site? And what will happen to the plan to have a Healing Center built on the foundation of the residential school? My recommendation; don't build or reside on a grave site. Whether or not remains are found the residential school grounds are a grave site.

Up 47 Down 15

Richard Smith on Jun 10, 2021 at 6:04 pm

Yes, there were some abuses and mistakes in residential schools.
If the government and churches had just not made any attempt to give basic education that would have been far worse. Much good was also a result.
What then, was a better alternative?

Up 36 Down 52

Beaker on Jun 10, 2021 at 3:27 pm

The residential school era was awful beyond words, years of odious behaviour nobody can give back. I’m not sure how any amount of money, any number of groups, meetings etc. can repair the harm. It’s a sad fact but what’s done is done and I know anybody today that doesn’t think this was an injustice. Moving forward, as hard as it is, will be up to the individual and support from their respective FN.

Whitehorse Daily Star