Truth commission's northern tour begins

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is in northern Quebec's Nunavik region this week to launch a series of hearings across Canada North, gathering anecdotes from former residential school students in remote communities.

The national commission began its northern tour Monday in Inukjuak, Que., where it is gathering statements from Inuit former students and others who want to talk about the impacts residential schools have had on their lives.

Among those in Inukjuak who plan to share their stories is Alacie Pov Kutchaka, who said she was terrified of the teachers and the foreign environment at the residential school she attended many years ago.

"We were young as four years old, sent away, and our parents just followed what they were told to do because it was the government," Kutchaka, now 56, told CBC News in Inuktitut.

"We used to be so scared, and I am finally starting to talk about those experiences."

Forced assimilation

A total of about 150,000 First Nations, Mtis and Inuit children were placed in more than 130 residential schools across Canada from the late 1870s until the last school closed in 1996.

The schools were part of the federal government's plan to force the assimilation of young aboriginal people into European-Canadian society. Many students were forbidden to speak their native languages or otherwise engage in their culture at the schools, which were run by churches.

Some former students have also reported being physically, sexually and psychologically abused at the schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has the mandate of documenting Canada's residential school experience, will travel to Kuujjuaq, Que., for hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In all, the commission will hold hearings in 19 communities in Nunavik, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon until May 27, when the tour wraps up in Whitehorse.

Counselling available

Robbie Watt, one of two co-directors of the panel's Inuit sub-commission, said former students who want to speak at the hearings cando so publicly in front of the panel, or privately to statement gatherers.

"We certainly don't want to go to any community, open up their wounds and then just leave," Watt said.

"We have to make sure that they properly go through the process of moving on forward."

Health Canada will provide counselling services to anyone who needs it during the hearings, Watt said.

Co-director Jennifer Hunt-Poitras said the commission is encouraging family members of former students and other people to come to the hearings and share their own experiences and thoughts as well.

"This is not just for survivors; it's not just for aboriginal people," she said.

"This is for anyone who feels in some way that Canada's residential school system has impacted their life in some way. So whether that's a 16-year-old or a 70-year-old, the commission wants to hear from them."

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's northern hearings will lead up to the commission's second national event in Inuvik, N.W.T., which runs from June 28 to July 1.