Bringing Our Children Home

Bringing Our Children Home

~ Russ Letica

I remember a time when, I believed in justice. I believed in the education I received in public schools and I believed in an over all compassion of people in general.

I simply believed in Humanity.

Then in 2008, came the apology from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for bad decisions made on his Government's part when dealing with the First Nations of Canada. I was in my community at the time this apology came. I thought to myself 'I am standing on the land of my ancestry and the head of the government just apologized for the genocide that happened to our ancestors.' Then I realized... no he did not.

He never mentions genocide, land theft, rape, torture, or medical experiments. It was an empty "I'm sorry" for the policies in place at the time. I remember thinking then that he was simply washing the blood from his government's hands in a ploy to eliminate them of any real responsibility regarding the actions of this government.

My journey into the truth continued in 2009 when I became more aware of the atrocities of the Native Residential Schools, through Nell Cole and Kevin Annett. No one in my family or community ever talked about it. My Mother left her community and moved to Boston with her family. It could be what saved her, her brothers and sisters from facing this fate. She then married and raised her children in society as a whole. She instilled in us who we were and that we should be proud of being Indian. But she left out all the other things of what we as a people have  actually endured, I believe out of love in her mother's protection to her young.

That which I had learned and believed in all my life fell apart; it was all a lie. It was all filthy and I was ashamed for not knowing the truth of what my ancestors actually went through. I felt I had no connection to my bloodline; that I was the very picture of assimilation. I was the product of a colonized design.

Who was I?

As I researched more and more into these child prison camps, I learned of many more around the world. Identical schools were ran in other colonized lands such as Australia and Ireland. Because of what I learned, I then joined the ranks of the many who would become the voices for these children.

By the government's own admission,

50% of the children they stole, died.

Children just don't die. These children were victimized by the philosophy to 'kill the Indian' in the child and save that child's soul through Christianity. Their experiment failed miserably and resulted in generations of trauma for the communities and households of Indigenous People who were already facing generations of calculated genocide. We are still seeing those effects today with alcohol and drug addictions, violence, abuse, and dehumanization. The social problems in our communities have a direct link to the children who survived these schools, handed down generation after generation.

In essence these schools produced the emotionless, loveless, sexually pervert horror the children were forced to live in, the fate of the ones who survived the atrocity. Now I want to talk to you about the ones who didn't.

Their souls are still trapped in the mass graves spread across our lands, still suffering and reliving the horror. I mentioned earlier that 50% of these children died. These children were not turned over to their parents for a proper traditional burial. These children were of no use to the policies in place; they were simply disposed of, in mass graves on the  property of the churches that ran these schools on land stolen from the very same people they were producing these horrific crimes against.

Mass graves still hold the truth of what happened. 

We have survived the complete definition of the word 'genocide.' 

We have survived, but for what?

We continue to walk because we ARE our own ancestry. I know in my soul and it echoes in my spirit that we must unearth these mass graves and release the souls imprisoned there, so they too may walk with us once again. Children are a gift and we as a people would never have left our children behind. The induced trauma and the degradation of the human spirit through intentional dehumanization have brought a division among the thinking of many nations today. We cannot forget our past, for it is core to who we are today. We may not want to embrace it, but we certainly need to end it.

As a descendant of the 7th Generations we have a mission, a purpose, to become a powerful voice, because the silence is killing us.

It's time we work together as Nations and we bring our

Children home in honor and respect of the life they represented.

To bring Truth to what was endured so a true healing can take place.

To release these Children from the hell they were thrown into and to finally answer their prayers to simply come home...

so they too may walk again amongst us.

It's time we bring our Children home in accordance

to our burial rituals and customs. It's time to name the names of the Children who were murdered, tortured and disposed of. We heal as a whole when we do it completely from beginning to end.

I want healing in our Nations so that we may rise again; Our Mother is waiting for us to come back together. Let's bring our Children home as we acknowledge our true history, for the survival of our future.

Russ Letica

Madawaska Maliseet First Nation

Author’s Note: 

Kevin Annett has documented 20 years of research and evidence to support the atrocities committed by both the Governments and the Vatican in connection to the Indian Residential Schools. That work can be found at www.hiddennolonger.com .

 Paper Sculpture Jim Eckman  www.eckmanfineart.com

Photo: Website Tonight Image Library