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<\/a>The National Arts Centre in Ottawa, seen from across the Rideau Canal. Photo: Joel Bedford<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n Throughout January and February, the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa is featuring performances, exhibits, and discussions under the banner of Art and Reconciliation<\/em>, as a way of recognizing the work of the commission and the renewed focus on indigenous people by the federal government.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n A shameful backstory<\/strong><\/p>\n Indian Residential Schools existed in Canada from the 1840s to 1996. One hundred and fifty-thousand children were removed from their homes and communities and educated in federally regulated schools operated by the Roman Catholic, Anglican (Episcopal), United (a 1925 merger of most Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalists), and Baptist churches.<\/p>\n Children and nuns in front of the Indian Residential School, Maliotenam, Quebec, circa 1950. Photo: Library and Archives Canada<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n The mandate of the schools was not just to educate children, but to extinguish traditional language and culture by assimilating indigenous youth into white, Christian society. Efforts at assimilation were all too often made using very un-Christian, abusive means. At the peak of the program, there were 80 residential schools across Canada.<\/p>\n In southern Ontario, there were four schools, including one on the Alderville Reserve near Peterborough. Their counterpart schools in the United States were the American Indian boarding schools, also a federally-regulated, assimilationist effort that was operated by various church organizations and has had a similarly controversial legacy. The only Indian boarding school in New York was the Thomas Indian School on the Cattaraugus Reservation in Erie County.<\/p>\n In Canada, the federal government reached a compensation agreement with residential school survivors in 2006. In 2008, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a formal apology to survivors and victims in Parliament.<\/p>\n This multi-disciplinary production based on the Indian Residential School experience has it’s world premier on January 14 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n Art and Reconciliation<\/em><\/strong> Events<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\n
\nThe production combines a film directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete and an original score composed by John Estacio and performed by the NAC Orchestra, which is conducted by Alexander Shelley. I Lost My Talk<\/em> was commissioned by the family of former Prime Minister (1979) and cabinet minister (1984-1988) Joe Clark to honour his 75th<\/sup> birthday.<\/li>\n