No amount of money will compensate for residential school: Stan Beardy

The $5 billion that’s been paid out to former residential school students will never compensate for the pain and suffering they experienced.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy said Canadians must understand the impacts the schools have had on Aboriginal people.
“We’re talking about institutionalization of over 100 years of our people – I don’t think any amount of money will begin to compensate the losses.”
Beardy said survivors lost their cultural identity because they were completely removed from their natural environment.
As of September 2011, in Ontario, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) received more than 9,700 applications for common experience payments. More than 7,800 were eligible for payment, which amounts to about $164 million in payouts in the province.
“It sounds like a lot of money,” Beardy said of the payments. “But I think the damage that has been inflicted on our people is so great, so huge that we are still trying to deal with it today.”
Beardy blames residential schools for the myriad of social issues now plaguing NAN communities.
He said prescription drug abuse, addiction problems, early deaths and other social challenges are a direct result of the intergenerational effects of the residential school system.
“They said they wanted to educate our children but the sad thing is they were never educated,” Beardy said.
Residential school students didn’t learn coping mechanisms most children learn while growing up in a loving family atmosphere.
“They didn’t learn interactions between other human beings because they were prohibited from even talking to their own siblings,” Beardy said. “They were prohibited from speaking their language, practicing their values and principles.”
And it’s those lacking skills that have been passed onto their children.
“They didn’t know how to relate to their offspring,” Beardy said. “There was no psychological attachment to their offspring, so what happens is a lot of those survivors tend to over protect their children, either they give them a lot of candy or pop or toys, because they are trying to compensate for what they themselves didn’t have as children.”
Beardy’s parents didn’t send him to residential school because they saw the affects residential school had on his older siblings.
“They were losing their language, they were losing their traditional survival skills,” Beardy said. “It was not my older siblings fault; it was just the fact that they were forced to go away to residential school.”
Beardy feels fortunate that he didn’t have to attend residential school.
“I have a strong sense of who I am,” Beardy said. “I have confidence in my culture and my language, so therefore I don’t have a fear of being assimilated out there although I integrate with larger society every day.”