Canada recently instituted a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which aims at paying respect and honouring the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Survivors and lost children of residential schools. The new National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to be held on September 30th, is one of the 94 recommendations that stemmed from the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report on calls to action. The National Day was made official early summer of 2021 in the wake of several discoveries of mass graves close to residential schools that were made public. It is probably safe to say that everyone in Canada was left at least speechless, if not ashamed, when the horrible news came out in 2021. I was.
First, I was shaken because it is impossible to imagine, from a human standpoint, how this could ever have happened. But then I was even more shaken because of the amazing privilege I have had to learn about and from First Nations during my time as President & CEO, of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), which has its head office on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples in Vancouver, British Columbia. Shortly after taking office in February 2020, three main areas of interest captured my attention: the pandemic (of course), PHSA’s transformation and the First Nations. The latter context became a unique opportunity to learn and meet amazing people who opened my eyes and heart. Two of these amazing people were referred to as “Elders”, which is a word of respect qualifying members of First Nations communities recognized by their peers for their representative wisdom regarding First Nations’ history, cultures, hardships, spirituality and on life as a whole. I met Elder Gerry (Oleman) and Elder Lillian (Howard), both of them Survivors of residential schools.
Elder Gerry is a member of the St’at’imc Nation from Tsal’alh (Shalalth, B.C.) and Elder Lillian was Vancouver-based and a member of the Mowachaht/Muchala Nation and also of Nuuchah-nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw and Tlingit ancestry. I met both of them through another amazing First Nation lady, Dr. Cheryl Ward (Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation). Cheryl happened to work at PHSA in Vancouver as the Executive Director of the department fostering indigenous health and cultural safety within the organization and beyond, most notably through the San’yas training program. Having the opportunity to cross paths and learn from Elder Gerry, Elder Lillian and Cheryl was a privilege, which not only helped me align my historical beliefs with the truth but also fine-tune skills that I thought I had already mastered up until I met them, such as learning, listening and respecting.
The San’yas program was an eye-opening experience in terms of touching base with false biases and stereotypes that I acquired through schooling, movies, books and living in a society that was built in a way overlooking the First Nations’ point of view. When I started the program, I was expecting to learn about the First Nations history, cultures, way of life and other dimensions of importance to understand them. After all, learning is about acquiring knowledge, right? Not entirely, I discovered. Of course, the program and my discussions with Elder Gerry and Elder Lillian gave me exposure to a breadth of knowledge that was very rich and insightful. But what I was also taught, is that the way we acquire knowledge and historical facts can make that knowledge flawed if it is shaped from a viewpoint that is biased. One’s very capacity to learn may be limited by the lenses one uses to acquire knowledge.
In that sense, real learning becomes more than just adding knowledge to what one knows. It is also about challenging one’s own framework; the way one sees the world; the way one wishes the world to be; the way one positions others within one’s own world. When one starts to challenge one’s own framing of the world, learning becomes a growth story and not just a knowledge acquisition process. This is reminiscent of Wayne Dyer’s famous line: “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change…”.
The San’yas training and the privilege to get to know Elder Gerry and Elder Lillian transformed the way I look at First Nations. I still have so much more to learn but hopefully, I am learning in a better way now. Learning should be about challenging our own preconceived notions and biases in order to grow into a wiser version of ourselves. Unfortunately, residential schools were created to achieve quite the contrary, namely to impose a way of life instead of sharing and learning from each other. Knowing that Elder Gerry and Elder Lillian were Survivors of residential schools, I was deeply shaken when I saw the news regarding the discovery of mass graves close to them. Residential schools proved to be even worse than I thought. I didn’t think this could be possible in Canada. I guess I still have a lot to learn…
My interaction with the First Nations, given my mandate as PHSA’s CEO and more broadly given the year I spent living in Vancouver, was striking; especially my relationship with Elder Gerry, Elder Lillian and Cheryl. Being exposed to such learnings was a true privilege, which changed my way of seeing our society and its challenges. My open stance to walk on that learning path as well as the trust and hope it inspired given the level of my responsibilities, earned me the honour of receiving a unique token of appreciation: the « blanket ». Usually, such a gift is given to honour those who have done something significant, which is not my case. I do not claim I did anything substantial for the First Nations. However, I do believe that the intent behind honouring me with a « blanket » was to stress appreciation for my will to walk the talk and invest time and energy to get rid of my biased lenses and learn about their reality, which gave hope for improving healthcare services to First Nations. That honour deeply touched me and it will forever remain with me as a source of motivation to keep learning and to seize opportunities to make things better. Below is a picture of the actual « blanket » I received.
I was profoundly saddened to learn that Elder Lillian recently passed away. I, therefore, wanted to share how grateful I am to have had the opportunity of crossing paths with her and learning from her wisdom, which was acquired over the course of a rich and yet very challenging lifetime. To honour her memory, I shared with you a little bit of what I learned from her, which is what learning can really be. Elder Lillian was a prime example of resilience, courage, dedication and truthfulness. Her life path will remain a beacon shedding light for all of us on how to achieve compassion, love, truth and reconciliation.
Thank you, Elder Lillian. May you rest in peace.
B.