The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada was established to uncover and acknowledge the injustices that took place in Indian residential schools and, in doing so, to pave the way to reconciliation. However, the TRC does not define reconciliation or how we would know it when (and if) we get there, thus stirring a debate about what it could mean. This article examines two theories that may potentially be relevant to the TRC's work: Charles Taylor's theory of recognition and Nancy Fraser's tripartite theory of justice. The goal is to discover what each theory contributes to our understanding of the harms that Indigenous peoples suffered in residential schools, as well as in the broader colonial project, and how to address these harms appropriately.
Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) was established to provide financial compensation for sexual and physical abuse that took place in Indian Residential Schools-boarding schools designed to assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian settler society. In my dissertation I centre my analysis on vi 8.4 Moving forward: alternatives to the current compensation model.
In the wake of increasing attention to reparations for settler colonialism in recent years, the politics of refusal and contestation of reparations has remained an underexplored area in socio-legal research. This article addresses this gap by foregrounding the perspectives of the colonised as a focal point to examine the strategies they mobilise to stage resistance to state-sponsored redress and to expose the harmful logics and legacies of ongoing settler colonialism. Strategies of resistance are discussed in the context of the Independent Assessment Process – a financial compensation process designed to provide redress to survivors of the physical and sexual violence they had suffered while attending Canada's Indian Residential Schools. This article explores how survivors disrupted the compensation process to advance an anti-colonial agenda, to politicise the violence, and to compel the settler state to recognise their lived experiences and realities of structural violence in the settler colonial present.
The Canadian government designed Indian residential school (IRS) system to assimilate Indigenous children into European settler society by dispossessing them of their cultures, languages and traditions. By severing the children’s ties to families and communities, and thus integrating them into Euro-Canadian society, the Crown sought to gain control of Indigenous lands (Miller, 2000). In the schools, which were run by church officials, many children died of neglect and diseases and often faced various other injustices perpetrated by staff, including physical, emotional, cultural, and sexual abuse. (Milloy, 1999). Although the last school was closed in 1996, IRS left behind a devastating legacy characterized by sexual and physical abuse in Indigenous communities, substance abuse, loss of Indigenous languages, over-representation of Indigenous people in correctional facilities, and others. Until recently, these were considered to be private issues. However, the growing body of evidence demonstrates that IRS were responsible for the negative impacts and the government and churches were compelled to recognize the damage done. This article explores Michael Burawoy’s (2005) four types of sociology (policy, critical, professional, and public) and assesses the relative contributions of each type in the process of transforming “private troubles” of the IRS legacy into “public issues.” The main thesis of the article is that each type of sociology, with varying degrees of success, promotes the recognition of the injustices inflicted by IRS. The article concludes that Burawoy’s sociology possesses its strengths and weaknesses in identifying private troubles as public issues.Le gouvernement canadien a conçu des pensionnats autochtones (PA) pour assimiler les enfants indigènes dans la société des colons européens en les dépossédant de leurs cultures, langues et traditions. En rompant les liens de l'enfant avec ses familles et communautés, et donc en les intégrant dans la société euro-canadienne, la Couronne a tenté de prendre le contrôle des terres autochtones (Miller, 2000). Dans les écoles, qui ont été dirigées par les responsables de l'église, plusieurs enfants sont morts suite à des négligences et des maladies et ont souvent fait face à diverses injustices commises par le personnel, y compris des abus physiques, émotionnels, culturels, et sexuels. (Milloy, 1999). Bien que la dernière école ait été fermée en 1996, les PA ont laissé derrière eux un héritage dévastateur caractérisé par des abus physiques et sexuels dans les communautés autochtones, la toxicomanie, la perte des langues autochtones, la surreprésentation des peuples autochtones dans les établissements correctionnels et autres. Jusqu'à récemment, ces conséquences ont été considérées comme des questions privées. Toutefois, un nombre croissant de preuves démontre que les PA ont été responsables de ces impacts négatifs et le gouvernement et les églises ont été obligées de reconnaître les dommages causés. Cet article explore les quatre types de sociologie (2005) de Michael Burawoy (académique, critique, experte et publique) et évalue les contributions relatives de chaque type dans le processus de transformation des « problèmes personnels » de l'héritage des PA en «questions d'intérêt public. » La thèse principale de l'article est que chaque type de sociologie, avec divers degrés de succès, encourage la reconnaissance des injustices infligées par les PA. L'article conclut que la sociologie de Burawoy possède ses forces et ses faiblesses dans l'identification des problèmes personnels comme des problèmes publics.
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