Indigenous Intergenerational Trauma

How do we take in the enormity of pain in ourselves and each other?

How do we take in the enormity of pain in ourselves and each other? It’s like the stinky sludge in the bottom of a swamp, where we are almost used to the pervading aroma, then the wind shifts and we gasp for fresh air.

In 2019, I wrote a post about Orange Shirt Day commemorating children who were forced into Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. A 50-metre-long red cloth held 2,800 entries, each the name of a child who died in these schools. Residential schools were the stated policy of the Canadian government to “take the Indian out of the child”. This is part of settler colonization. The schools were funded by the Canadian government and run primarily by churches. Children were abducted from their parents and communities by priests and others acting on behalf of our government. The first school opened in the 1870’s. The last one closed in 1996. Twenty four years ago. Take that in. Twenty four years ago.

Abuse of alcohol and other drugs, sexual abuse and social breakdown were not the reasons why residential schools began. They are a direct result of the trauma individuals experienced in Indian residential schools and in the parents whose children were taken from them. The intergenerational effects of this trauma are very…