For as long as I can remember, in my Circle and the Circles with the People of Turtle Island, we have been asking for such an event. It is in our teachings that healing can happen in the absence of an apology from the perpetrator. We are taught in our culture to look inward to see what part we own and deal with that—and then give the rest to whoever owns it for them to deal with.  This hurt, this fear, this pain, however, is different. We have had to endure it over seven generations; for over a century we have been held in its shadow. We continue in that shadow today, it remains to be seen if that shadow will lift in the future and the days, months and years that follow will prove if this apology is sincere and real.

Generational Loss is far more difficult to recover from. We have to unlearn the pain and the hurt, unlearn the fear of oppression affecting us because of how we look…how we think….how we speak….and how we talk to our Creator. I would ask anyone who is not of aboriginal ancestry to take a good look at their children, their family and put them into this picture….How could you protect them? How could you shield them from this pain if they were forced to endure this scenario?

We have always been a proud People and we have always been respectful of all things in Creation. We trust, as our culture teaches us, until we are shown beyond a reasonable doubt that those we trust are not worthy of that trust. It is with hope that we again offer this trust in the words of condolence and the asking for forgiveness that were spoken publicly several days ago.

IN PEACE,
TO ALL MY RELATIONS,

WUT-TUN-NEE (Tim Brown, Chair, Aboriginal Circle)