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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 11, 2015 | 20 Oakville woman bears witness as residential schools report released by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff An Oakville woman who journeyed to Ottawa last week to hear a report on Canada's residential school system says it was emotional and exhausting. Heather McCann, a member of the Huron-Wendat First Nation, joined hundreds of people at the Delta Hotel in Ottawa, to listen to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's finding on Tuesday (June 2). The semi-retired accountant said she made the trip to learn, but also to bear witness. "I'm interested in First Nations' issues and thought it would be good to learn some more," said McCann, who emphasized neither she nor any member of her family attended a residential school. "I also thought it was important for the survivors to know they had the support of other people there. The Commission has asked us to listen to the stories of what happened to these people at the residential schools, the horrors they endured and the terrible legacy that has been left by it. I thought I should listen to them in-person." The Commission used the term "cultural genocide" to describe the practice that saw approximately 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children taken from their parents and placed in residential schools Heather McCann from 1876 to 1996. The schools were largely operated by churches, but funded by the federal government. Survivors reported efforts to strip them of their culture began upon their arrival -- with a hair cut, change in clothing and being forbidden by staff to speak their native language. Survivor accounts reported widespread physical, mental and sexual abuse at the facilities. Not everyone survived as 3,201 children died while in residential school care. These registered deaths list disease as the primary cause of death. Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair said the actual number of deaths may be more than 6,000. "It was so emotional. It was draining. It was exhausting," said McCann. Painted Furniture Home Accents Stockist for Chalk PaintTM by Annie Sloan Workshops 119 Kerr Street · (905) 582-8318 www.whitepearstudios.ca "They had panel discussions on Monday and at the end, people were invited to ask questions and instead these elders stood up and told their stories. There was not a dry eye in the room. At the presentation of the commission report they actually had people going around with boxes of (tissues). We needed them." McCann described the survivor accounts she heard as "heartbreaking." One survivor, Casey Eagle, whose recorded story was played at the release of the report, recounted that he'd been lifted by his ears, stripped naked and beaten unconscious for speaking his native language. He also described nights where he said he was repeatedly raped while being told he was not right and called an animal. McCann, who became aware of her native heritage as a teenager, spoke about the 94 recommendations, in the commission report. She said many generated thunderous applause with standing ovations from the standing-room-only crowd. They included a call for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, that Canada get an apology from the Pope on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church in regard to abuse of aboriginal children at Catholic-run schools, and that Canada fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Other recommendations called on the federal government to acknowledge that aboriginal rights include language rights. "These languages are a national treasure. We had hundreds of languages in Canada before colonization and now I think there are 15 that are viable right now," said McCann. "The language of a people holds its wisdom, its laws, its knowledge. When these languages go extinct, a lot of this knowledge goes with them." While Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology for the residential schools in 2008 and recently said "work is still needed to help heal the pain and restore trust from that wrong," he has yet to clearly express support for the recommendations. McCann said more than anything else Canadians need to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report with some empathy. "I talk a lot about the residential schools and people say `It was a long time ago. They should just get over it.' It wasn't a long time ago and it takes a long time to heal from intergenerational abuse," said McCann. "The children of the survivors have been affected by what was done to their parents... 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