TORONTO — Standing in the provincial legislature, MPP Sol Mamakwa shared his experiences from being born in the Sioux Lookout Indian Hospital to attending a residential school.
Mamakwa, the MPP for Kiiwetinoong and NDP deputy leader, rose at Queen's Park on Thursday and spoke for nearly eight minutes, detaling how he is a "survivor of a colonial system."
A member of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, Mamakwa said he was born at the Sioux Lookout Indian Hospital.
“The hospital was a segregated hospital for First Nations people. By the 1960s, there were 20 fully functional Indian hospitals in Canada places that delivered substandard care. It was a form of apartheid,” said Mamakwa.
Mamakwa said his early childhood was immersed in the culture of Kingfisher Lake First Nation. He learned to speak Anishininimowin and his family “lived peacefully on the land, taking only what we needed when we needed it.”
But as he grew older, Mamakwa was forced to attend one of 600 federally funded Indian Day Schools until high school where he was sent to Stirland Lake Residential School, also known as Wahbon Bay Academy. The school, located north of Pickle Lake, opened in 1971 and operated until 1991.
“I lived in a small house. A dorm for the boys. There were four boys in my room. I had a bunk bed and only one drawer in the chest of drawers for my clothes. We were constantly watched by staff. They censored our letters home to our parents reading every word we wrote. The older boys used to be heavily punished. Sometimes for no reason, they would be beaten, they would be strapped until they were black and blue,” Mamakwa said.
“I have no memory of Grade 10. I see my photo in the Grade 10 yearbook. I can't hardly believe it. It's as if the entire year has disappeared from my life. The picture in the yearbook says I was there but I remember nothing.”
In that same yearbook, Mamakwa said that there is a picture of a Ralph Rowe, an Anglican priest, who from the 1970s to the mid-1980s sexually assaulted up to 500 young boys.
“When I flip through the yearbook, many of my friends, the faces I see staring up at me have died. They have left too young for the spirit world. Violent deaths, suicides, addiction. Why have so many left us? Their spirits were broken. They could not carry on why? Because of the Indian residential schools, because of their abuse, violence and their demons imposed on them. They did not ask to be born into this history. One of oppression, one of subjugation,” Mamakwa said.
“But they were all over Canada. We see the horror of this history that this country has largely chosen to ignore.”
Mamakwa said that there are an estimated 10,000 suspected remains of Indigenous children unceremoniously buried in shallow graves on the grounds of residential schools, churches, and Indian hospitals across Canada.
“Yet still people deny it is true. They deny that Indian residential schools were horrible places. These deniers have websites and post on social media. This has become an acceptable form of hate denying the truth of Indian residential schools. This must end since the government of Ontario was a party to children being in residential schools in the first place. Since they were part of the system, the government of Ontario must do its part to combat denialism,” declared Mamakwa.
Mamakwa wants the Ontario government to commit to public education regarding the residential school system. He questioned the Ford government about their reformed education curriculum that mandates a sanitized version of Canada’s colonial history.
“To teach our children in Ontario schools from kindergarten to grade eight that Indian resident schools happened. That our children, our loved ones, never came home from these institutions. Why isn't the truth of our Treaties being taught?” questioned Mamakwa.
“As I reflect on today, these are the things that occupy my mind. Ontario you can do your part. Awake from your slumber and open your eyes to our true history. Only then we can walk forward together.”
Following his speech, MPPs from all parties rose and applauded Mamakwa.
