Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Everyone Trying To Save Face

That's right. Interference by the Harper government in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as divergent agendas between the Chairman (Justice Harry S. LaForme) and the two sitting commissioners (Claudette Dumont-Smith, Jane Brewin Morley), have lead to the recent resignation of the TRC's Chairman.

More details have emerged as to the reasons behind Justice LaForme's resignation (emphasis added):

As Mr. Justice Harry LaForme agonized over whether to stay on as chairman of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he was faced with the question of whether he wanted to spend five years fighting for his own independence and authority.

The 61-year-old Ontario Court of Appeal judge consulted commission counsel Owen Young, whom Judge LaForme had stood by despite the opposition of some native groups to his hiring.

Mr. Young tried to persuade Judge LaForme, the country's highest-ranking aboriginal judge, to stay. "Harry, the country needs you," he said.

"We're not giving up this fight for reconciliation," the judge replied. "But we're going to have to move to another context."

An intermediary explored the possibility that Jane Brewin Morley and Claudette Dumont-Smith, the two commissioners who opposed Judge LaForme, might resign to break the deadlock, but they said they would not.

"He did the thing that he could control, let me put it that way," Mr. Young said. "He could have asked them to leave; they wouldn't leave."

His resignation Monday caught many by surprise. Attempts at conciliation had been launched at the behest of Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler, led by Toronto lawyer Will McDowell. People close to the discussion felt that, given time, solutions could have been found to the issues that divided the three: whether there was a hierarchy in the group, whether decisions would be made by consensus, whether the commission would focus on truth or reconciliation or both, and how close the commission would be to the parties to the court-supervised settlement of lawsuits over the schools. Creation of the commission was a cornerstone of that agreement.

The three commissioners met with Mr. McDowell on Sept. 30 in Toronto.

Judge LaForme was still frustrated by the other two commissioners' trip to Ottawa four days earlier at the request of the Assembly of First Nations to meet with the parties to the settlement. He had said he wouldn't go, and recommended the two commissioners do the same.

The judge said that decision was based on the need to defend judicial independence. He believed the commission had to be sympathetic to the survivors, but couldn't be seen to be captive to the AFN, according to a source close to the commission.

In an interview with The Globe two weeks ago, Judge LaForme chose to emphasize the importance of independence.

"My view of independence is such that I would defend it as strongly against the government of Canada as I would against any political organization or any church," he said.

Just for information, here is the mandate of the TRC (pdf here):

• Prepare a comprehensive historical record on the policies and operations of the schools.
• Complete a publicly accessible report that will include recommendations to the government of Canada concerning the Indian Residential School system and its legacy.
• Establish a research centre that will be a permanent resource for all Canadians.
• Host seven national events in different regions across Canada to promote awareness and public education about the Indian Residential School system and its impacts.
• Support events designed by individual communities to meet their unique needs.
• Support a commemoration initiative that will provide funding for activities that honour and pay tribute in a permanent and lasting manner to former Indian Residential School students.

The ultimate objective of the TRC is the following (emphasis added):

Create an accurate and public historical record of the past. In doing so it will help to fill the blank pages of Canada’s history. Contribute to a process of truth, healing and reconciliation. It will be forward looking and results orientated in terms of rebuilding and renewing Aboriginal relationships and the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

Perhaps the two commissioners should better acquaint themselves of the TRC's mandate and ultimate objective, while at the same time acquire a better understanding of what are the inherent roles of a Chair by definition - after all, why have a Chair in the first place, contrary to the self-serving contention (suspiciously echoed by the AFN) that all three (LaForme, Dumont-Smith, Morley) were "equal"? And perhaps they should from now on follow the wise legal advice for the need of the TRC to be independent of all parties - including both the government and the AFN, thus ensuring transparency and avoiding the appearance of conflicts of interest.

Likewise, the AFN should seriously reconsider any further attempts in meddling - whether directly or not - with the TRC ... once again, if only for the sake of transparency and avoiding the appearance of conflicts of interest.

And this goes double for the Harper government.

Meanwhile:

Government to hold talks over future of residential-schools commission

CBC has learned the federal government will hold a meeting next week with survivors of residential schools as well as aboriginal and church leaders to determine a course for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

A spokesman for Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl confirmed the meeting, which follows the sudden resignation of the commission's chair, Justice Harry LaForme, less than six months into his mandate.

In his resignation letter this week, LaForme wrote that the commission is on the verge of paralysis and doomed to failure. He cited an "incurable problem" with the other two commissioners, whom he said refused to accept his authority as chair and were disrespectful.

The two commissioners have hit back, saying they were stunned by LaForme's resignation and that any disagreements could have been overcome if LaForme had been willing to sit down and talk with them instead of through intermediaries.

Since LaForme's resignation, former students, aboriginal leaders and the churches that ran the government-funded schools have urged the government to meet with them to ensure the commission resumes as quickly as possible.

Sources told CBC News that the respective parties will talk about how to fill the commission's chair and discuss whether the remaining two commissioners will also have to be replaced.

Strahl has already asked for advice from the three justices supervising the settlement agreement.

Of course, the continuing parade of bruised egos continues:

The Assembly of First Nations said that was the wrong thing to do, insisting the minister should have come to them first.

"The idea of going back to the courts or engaging the courts in this process is entirely premature," John Phillips, a lawyer working for the AFN, told CBC News.

Never you mind that the TRC was created as part of a court-approved Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that was negotiated in 2006 between former students, churches, the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal organizations.

In any case, my conclusion is that the AFN is actually playing politics here, especially in light of this:

Fontaine urges feds to quickly find new residential-school commission chair

Assembly of First Nations national chief Phil Fontaine is calling for the federal government to quickly find a replacement for the man who abruptly resigned from the arduous task of chronicling the dark history of residential schools.

"Most survivors are elderly and too many are passing away each day without ever having the opportunity to tell their story to their families, their communities, the commission and indeed to all Canadians," said Fontaine.

Of course, the surviving victims and/or their families remain caught in the middle while the Harper government and the AFN keep on playing politics with something that should have remained politics-free all along:

Meanwhile, survivors have watched with disbelief as the process for healing has unraveled in recent days.

"This would be a perfect opportunity to tell their story and maybe also possibly express forgiveness to the government of Canada," said Elijah Harper, a former Cree chief and the provincial MLA partly responsible for the failure of the Meech Lake accord in 1990.

Harper himself attended a residential school in northern Manitoba and said too much is at stake for the commission to be sidetracked by political in-fighting and controversy.

"We need to hear these people," he said. "It's part of once again feeling betrayed."

(I will not address at this time my perceived hypocrisy on the part of Elijah Harper with his hyperbolic claims of "betrayal", considering how he was instrumental in killing the Meech Lake Accord and consequently preventing "reconciliation" between Canada and Québec - instead keeping all of us stuck in the same old "federalists" vs "séparatistes" quagmire, including the near-victory of the "Yes" vote back in 1995 - but I disgress)

Hence, I say to commissioners Dumont-Smith and Morley, as well as to the AFN and the Harper government: stop trying to save face, grow the hell up and start acting competently by refraining from interfering with the TRC - so that truth, healing and reconciliation may come at last.

Assuming, of course, that is what you do want ... right?

I know I do.

However much the non-First Nations Canadian that I am.



(Addendum: northwestern_lad @ Peterborough Politics has more here)