Ry Moran, director of the new National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NRCTR), will be at UCN in Thompson March 11 for a ‘community engagement session’

Ry Moran, director of the new National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NRCTR), based at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, will be in Thompson March 11 for the launch of the centre’s community engagement sessions in Lecture Theatre Room 302A at the University College of the North’s new Thompson campus at 55 UCN Dr., adjacent to the Thompson Regional Community Centre (TRCC).

More community engagement sessions are scheduled for The Pas on March 12; Iqaluit on March 19; Vancouver on March 25; Prince George. B.C. on March 26; Montreal on March 31; Saskatoon on April 16; Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia on April 21; Edmonton on May 5 and Toronto on May 15.

Moran will meet with survivors of Indian residential schools here in Thompson Wednesday between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and inter-generational survivors between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.  Health supports will be available on site and refreshments and a light supper will be provided.

Moran wants to learn what Northern Manitoba survivors’ “hopes and dreams” are for the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Establishing a national research centre and archive to forever preserve the truths of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools was one of the most important responsibilities given to the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As part of its legal mandate, the responsibility is spelled out in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, signed in 2007 by representatives of survivors, aboriginal groups, including the Assembly of First Nations (AFM) and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the federal government and the churches.

In order to carry out the national research centre and archive part of its mandate, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission convened an international gathering of experts on aboriginal community control, and on national and international principles, protocols and best practices for indigenous and human rights archiving.

The National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a 10-person staff and is located in Chancellor’s Hall at 177 Dysart Rd. on the University of Manitoba’s Winnipeg campus. It will work in co-operation with a wide network of partners across Canada and is set to officially open this summer. Current partner organizations include the University College of the North; University of British Columbia; Lakehead University;University of Winnipeg; Red River College; Université de Saint-Boniface; St John College; St Paul’s College;Legacy of Hope Foundation; National Association of Friendship Centre’s; Canadian Museum for Human Rights; Archives Manitoba; Manitoba Museum; Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources and the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre.

The National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation will operate within the academic and administrative structure of the University of Manitoba with Moran reporting administratively to the office of vice-president (research and international), as he manages the day-to-day operations of the centre.

The centre was established in a June 21, 2013 National Aboriginal Day agreement between the university and the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will wind up its six-year mandate in June. The centre’s archives will hold millions of documents collected by the commission including nearly 7,000 video-and audio-recorded statements from survivors, inter-generational survivors, and others affected by the schools and their legacy; millions of archival documents and photographs from more than 20 departments of the Government of Canada and nearly 100 Canadian church entities archives; works of art, artifacts and other expressions of reconciliation presented at Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission events; and research collected and prepared by the commission. Justice Murray Sinclair, who chairs the three-member commission, has said the research centre is an important part of the commission’s legacy.

The National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is guided by a seven-member governing circle, who have two-year terms. The current members are Eugene Arcand; Andrew Carrier; Catherine Cook; Grand Chief Edward John; Gregory Juliano; Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux; and Jennifer Watkins.

The governing circle ensures Indigenous control over the materials held by the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. It provides guidance on the centre’s policies, priorities, and activities, on ceremonies and protocols, on methods and sources to expanding the center’s holdings and resources and on prospective partners.

Three members of the governing circle represent survivors, their families or ancestors (one First Nation, one Inuit and one Métis), two represent the University of Manitoba, and two represent the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation partner organizations. At all times, at least four members of the governing circle must identify as aboriginal.

Moran was appointed director of the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on Feb. 3, 2014, coming directly from the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where had served as director of statement gathering since January 2010.

Before joining the commission, Moran, who is Métis, was the founder and president of YellowTilt Productions, delivering services in a variety of areas including aboriginal language presentation and oral history. He had hosted internationally broadcast television programs, produced national cultural events, and written and produced original music for children’s television. Moran’s awards including a National Aboriginal Role Model Award, and a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. Moran is a Masters of Business Administration candidate, and holds a Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree from the University of Victoria.

The first Indian residential schools opened in the 1880s in western Canada and eventually, they operated in every province and territory except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The system was at its height in the 1920s with compulsory attendance under the Indian Act and over 80 schools in operation. Most Indian residential schools were run by entities of the Roman Catholic church, with others run by the Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and later the United churches.

Here in Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas was involved in four residential schools at Beauval, Sturgeon Landing, Guy Hill and Cross Lake. Through the Corporation of Catholic Entities Party to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement (CCEPIRSS), created in 2006 to oversee the undertakings of the group of 54 Catholic dioceses and religious congregations under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas was obliged to provide $1 million in cash over five years, $1.6 million of in-kind services and community work over 10 years, as well as support the fundraising Canada Wide Campaign (CWC).

The archdiocese met that obligation by paying out $200,000 a year, beginning in 2007 until the $1 million was paid. The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement ended litigation facing the federal government and the four churches that ran the schools, where rampant abuse occurred, for more than a century, and which former Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie, who resigned for health reasons July 16, 2012, called, “a system that is now acknowledged as a flawed policy of colonization and assimilation.”

In a Dec. 17, 2009 pastoral letter, Lavoie wrote: ” We would encourage those from our archdiocese who attended the schools, or had family members and relatives who attended, to contribute to the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] process, so that the historical record can be accurate. Whereas over the past few years many held back from sharing positive experiences out of fear of being politically incorrect, now is the time to speak your truth so that it is heard and recorded.”

The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in its current incarnation, was appointed by the federal Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper through orders-in-council on June 9, 2009.

The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was originally established on June 1, 2008. Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Harry LaForme, a member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation in Southern Ontario, was appointed by the Harper government as the first commission chair, but resigned in October 2008. Claudette Dumont-Smith, of Gatineau, Que., a native health expert, and Jane Brewin Morley, of Victoria, a lawyer and public policy adviser, were also appointed originally as commissioners, but announced in January 2009 that they would resign, too, effective June 1, 2009, leading to the entire three-person commission to be replaced by the current commissioners.

The chair, Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Murray Sinclair, from near Selkirk, was Manitoba’s first aboriginal judge. Sinclair was appointed associate chief judge of the provincial court of Manitoba in March 1988 and elevated to the Court of Queen’s Bench in January 2001.

Commissioner Wilton Littlechild is a member of the Ermineskin Tribe Cree community, near Hobbema in central Alberta. He was the first Treaty First Nation person to acquire his law degree from the University of Alberta in 1976. His law firm is located on the Ermineskin reserve. He also served as a Progressive Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Wetaskiwin from 1988 to 1993.

Commissioner Marie Wilson grew up in Sarnia in Southern Ontario. Wilson, who lives in Yellowknife, is a well-known former CBC broadcast journalist and manager, who spent most of her career in the North, and is a member of the United Church. She served as CBC’s senior manager for northern Quebec and the three northern territories of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

A component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the commission is an independent body that oversees a process to provide former students and anyone who has been affected by the residential schools legacy, with an opportunity to share their individual experiences in a safe and culturally appropriate manner.

The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is unique from other commissions around the world in that its scope is primarily focused on the experiences of children. Its focus of research spans more than 150 years, one of the longest durations ever examined.

It is also the first court-ordered truth commission to be established in Canada. As such, the court plays an ongoing role in the implementation and supervision of the commission.

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Rick Oberdorfer, longtime president of Thompson Unlimited’s board of directors, and veteran directors Don Macdonald and Manisha Pandya all resigning as of Jan. 1

Three  veteran members of the board of directors of Thompson Unlimited (TU) submitted their resignations to Mayor Tim Johnston after a board meeting July 29, including Rick Oberdorfer, longtime president of TU. Oberdorfer, Don Macdonald and Manisha Pandya have sat on the board since the economic development corportation was founded. Their resignations are contained in an Aug. 5 letter to Johnston, which was released a public document by the city Sept. 22. The letter was received by the city Aug. 7.

While the resignations were intended to take effect when received an approved by council resolution, Johnston told a regular meeting of city council Monday night that he had spoken to all three after receiving the letter and asked them to stay on until Jan. 1, giving a newly-elected council, which takes office at noon Oct. 23, a chance to get under way before a change of such magnitude.

In their Aug. 5 letter, Oberdorfer, Macdonald and Pandya write: “The members all feel that it it is time to give others the opportunity to participate in this board.” They go on to say in the two-paragraph letter: “It has been a great learning and growing experience and we will all miss working with Thompson Unlimited.”

Johnston, who is not seeking re-election Oct. 22, is the City of Thompson’s external committee appointment to the Thompson Unlimited board of directors.

On Dec. 31 each year, through the recommendation of the legislative and intergovernmental affairs committee and approved by resolution, council appoints a member of council to external committees for the following year. The role of the committee representatives to external committees are to represent city council on the committee; if necessary, to seek clarification from council of its position with respect to the committee; and to report to council on activities and decisions originating from committee meetings.

Johnston noted Gord Wakeling, interim general manager of Thompson Unlimited, had also offered his resignation. Wakeling recently sold his house in Thompson and moved to Winnipeg, but at Johnston’s request is remaining on in the post on a contract basis until Jan. 1, the mayor told council. In fact, Wakeling’s job at Thompson Unlimited was advertised last summer, resulting in a short list of several candidates. That hiring has now been postponed until the new council assumes office next month.

Before he retired last year, Wakeling had served  for 21 years as chief executive officer of the Communities Economic Development Fund (CEDF) here, the only provincial Crown corporation headquarted in Northern Manitoba. Wakeling joined Thompson Unlimited as interim general manager last December after the resignation of development co-ordinator Betty Landego – one of two employees at that time, along with Roxie Binns, who worked half-time but left the position for health reasons and moved to Winnipeg.

Mark Matiasek, who had been general manager of Thompson Unlimited since February 2008, was let go when his contract expired late in 2012. Thompson Unlimited’s budget for 2012 projected revenues of $354,900 – $250,000 of which was the annual operating grant from Vale – and projected expenditures of $449,950 for a deficit to be funded from its reserve of $95,050. The budgeted amount for wages and benefits in 2012 was $190,000 or approximately 42 per cent of the total expenses. Matiasek teaches sociology as an adjunct professor in the Business Administration program here at the University College of the North now.

Oberdorfer owns the A&W franchise on Thompson Drive North.  Pandya is a chartered accountant and partner with Kendall & Pandya.  Macdonald, who is making a run for a trustee’s seat in the Oct. 22 municipal election, is fisheries manager for the Northeastern Region here in the  Fisheries Branch of the Water Stewardship Division of Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

Other members of the board of directors of Thompson Unlimited include Manfred Boehm, of Winnipeg,  who operates Boehm Management Ltd. and Boehm Hotel Corporation, and owns through companaies controlled by him both the  77-room Burntwood Hotel and  45-room Thompson Inn, both of which are for sale and listed with Colliers. Asking price for the Thompson Inn, or TI as it also known as, is $2.5 million. Both hotels also house beer vendors. Boehm, and his business parner, Ted Bloomer, also own the historic Ramada Marlborough hotel in downtown Winnipeg.

Rounding out the board of directors are Jim Beardy, director of community and technical services for the Keewatin Tribal Council (KTC); Steve Spuzak and Kevin White.

Thompson Unlimited found itself embroiled in controversy last year after Oberdorfer, in his official capacity, based on “input from three business owners,” who remained unidentified, wrote a three-page letter to Johnston and city council dated Aug. 8, 2013, outlining what he describes as “to follow are concerns and suggestions.” The letter became a public document on Sept. 9, 2013 when it was officially received as correspondence during a regular council meeting.

Essentially, many of the 15 points in the letter raised downtown issues that were widely perceived to be a racist attack on the local aboriginal community. The situation became so heated the full board, including Oberdorfer, signed a letter to the editor, published in the Thompson Citizen Sept. 18, 2013, saying, “First and foremost, we truly regret any distress this may have caused to the people and organizations of our region.” The board stressed that the letter “read  into the minutes of the Sep. 9 meeting of mayor and council and which reflected comments that were provided to Thompson Unlimited. These comments in no way represented the views or opinions of Thompson Unlimited, its staff, the board of directors or its chair.” It ended its letter to the newspaper by saying, “Again, we accept responsibility for the way in which the results were presented and we truly regret any undue offense it may have given. We will take steps to ensure that our actions in the future will be more considerate and mindful of others.”

Thompson Unlimited, the city’s economic development corporation, was established in 2003 with $2.5 million in funding over 10 years, first by Inco and later Vale, to assist with diversifying the economy in Thompson for the post-mining era. It did business until 2005 as Thompson Community Development Corporation, which remains its legal name to his day.

Thompson Unlimited’s funding was slashed in January 2013 by 80 per cent – or $2 million – to $500,000 over four years under a new five-year municipal tax and funding agreement with Vale Canada Limited for Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2017, which replaced an expired eight-year agreement between Vale, City of Thompson, School District of Mystery Lake and Local Government District (LGD) of Mystery Lake.

Thompson Unlimited got about 70.44 per cent of its total indirect funding through Vale in 2012. Last year it was to receive $250,000; followed by $100,000 this year; $100,000 again next year; and a final $50,000 in 2016. Technically, Vale earmarks the money for economic development and provides it to the City of Thompson; it does not directly hand over the money to Thompson Unlimited.