Opinion: Reconciliation is about truth and requires compassion
Written for Daily Hive by Tamara Bell, an artist and television producer/director from the Haida Nation’s Raven Clan. Bell created the installation on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2021, memorializing the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were discovered in unmarked graves at the Kamloops Residential School.
On September 26th, 2023, I unveiled Truth, a permanent installation at the Broadway campus of Vancouver Community College (VCC). The event was a milestone for the college, representing its first step on the path of Reconciliation.
VCC is the first academic institution to act in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s calls to action regarding permanent commemorations of those who were subjected to residential schools. Deeply aware of the significance of this moment, I feel honoured to be a part of their new direction. Truth is dedicated to residential school survivors, and to those who passed while in the system.
Bell’s newest work was unveiled at VCC in an event earlier this week.(VCC)
I began my work on the installation by reading the Commission’s reports. The experience affected me profoundly. Reading the reports and listening to accounts of children’s experiences helped me better understand my mother, a Haida woman who underwent medical experimentation while still a beautiful young girl, and who suffered greatly while in residential school.
As a child, I was witness to the result: she struggled with addiction, living in the projects in East Vancouver in poverty, searching for acceptance in a world that didn’t see, hear or care about Indigenous children.
The installation, created by the Haida artist, will be on permanent display at the college’s
Broadway campus public event space. (VCC)
The piece is in honour of the children who were subjected to the horrors of
Canada’s Residential Schools. (VCC)
Construction of the installation began with used private school shoes that symbolize the shoes worn by residential school attendees. As I worked on them, adding chains and text from the reports, I was frequently overwhelmed by emotion, and one incident in the report halted all creation as I surrendered to a need for therapy and healing ceremonies. I cried for a little Indigenous boy who was terribly abused, and I cried for so many others. My tears would land on the children’s shoes as I worked, mixing with the acrylic paint and glue. Another time, researching nearly broke me, and I had to put the shoes in a box and take time to heal. When ready to resume, I prayed and smudged, completed the shoes, and started focusing on education and healing for the next phase.
I used our four sacred medicines for the healing: sage, cedar, sweetgrass and cedar. I would steep the water for a day and use it to adhere parts of the report to the shoes, which now sit on top of pillars of books. On the spine of each pillar, I sketched life-size images of Indigenous children against a background of quotes about colonization and excerpts from the reports.
Reconciliation, I believe, is about truth. To hear the truth requires compassion, understanding and cultural sensitivity. Dismissiveness must give way to a vision of humanity that includes Indigenous people. It requires that every person, business, community and province practice radical acceptance of Indigenous history, including the difficult aspects of our shared experiences.
For a previous installation, my adopted Coast Salish son and I placed 215 pairs of shoes on the south side of the Vancouver Art Gallery. We purchased used shoes and placed them on the concrete steps. I had been awake all night sobbing, reading post after post on social media about the discovery of unmarked graves of children at the Kamloops Residential School. The installation of children’s shoes went viral and was replicated across the country, in the US, and in Europe.
Memorial outside Vancouver Art Gallery on May 28, 2021. (Submitted)
As an artist, my goal was to help our survivors and intergenerational survivors deal with the breaking news of the discovery of so many bodies found in Kamloops. Although the installation is no longer at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the memorial—along with the others that appeared elsewhere—provided solidarity and healing for thousands.
MatthewRoberge/Shutterstock
A daily flow of people gathered at the site and supported each other in their darkest hours.
As a survivor of intergenerational trauma, my research on the experiences of children in the residential schools hit me hard. The reports are by no means an easy read, but they are a necessary read for all Canadians.
By reading them, we can come together in our shared understanding of the virtually unspeakable events that have left a gaping wound in this country for so long, and develop meaningful solutions that heal the pain.
Editor’s note: This article discusses residential schools. An Indian Residential School Survivors Society Emergency Crisis Line is available 24/7 to provide counselling and support. You can call 1-800-721-0066 or the 24-hour crisis line at 1-866-925-4419.