Critics are raising concerns about proposed stained-glass artwork on Parliament Hill commemorating the victims of native residential schools in Canada saying the medium might be inappropriate because of its religious associations with the church.
“I’m not speaking for aboriginal people, but one of the dangers with stained-glass is that it’s a very precise medium because it’s bright, colourful and clean,” says Allan Ryan, a Canadian studies and art history professor at Carleton University.
“This means that there is a danger of sanitizing history. You almost want to be using an ‘anti-stained-glass’ medium.”
However, organizations such as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples view the artwork as a positive teaching tool.
Carl Courneya, communications director for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, says “the congress views the initiative in a very positive light because it makes for a great teaching tool.”
He says the congress hopes the piece will “generate some positive discussion and will get the message across to all Canadians, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal.”
The artwork will be permanently installed above the West Centre Block door, part of an effort to promote reconciliation between aboriginal communities and the federal government.
In a 2008 official apology, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said residential schools, which operated as joint ventures with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United churches, were established to separate aboriginal children from “their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.”
Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were also seen as “inferior and unequal,” and because the use of aboriginal languages and cultural practices were prohibited, some thought the schools killed “the Indian in the child,” says Harper.
Many experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as linguistic and cultural discrimination while attending these schools.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the artwork is meant to give future visitors the chance to learn about the history of residential schools and Canada’s ongoing reconciliation efforts, says Michelle Perron, a spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Duncan announced the artwork on Oct. 27, while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Atlantic National Event was being held in Halifax. Residential school survivors, church members and government officials attended the four-day meeting.
The commission, which is a part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, documents the experiences of survivors and anyone who was affected by residential schools in order to provide the public with the opportunity to learn about the history and ongoing commemoration of the tragedy.
“This announcement is certainly a welcome departure from statues and plaques,” says Jonathan Dewar, research director at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
The foundation, located on Albert Street, encourages and supports aboriginal-directed healing initiatives that address the legacy of physical and sexual abuse suffered in residential schools through funding and research.
A panel of art experts will recommend a Canadian aboriginal artist to design the artwork. Dewar says this is a crucial process, as it “will likely influence how individuals close to this issue respond to this gesture.”
Ryan says it would be interesting to see whether the piece incorporates any text, such as Harper’s official apology.
But an abstract design might be chosen because a figurative image might not capture the emotions that still resonate with the aboriginal community, he adds.
It’s ironic that the government has chosen an artistic medium that is synonymous with the church, given that residential schools were often Church-run initiatives, says Ryan.
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, an Anishnaabe writer and publisher who lives on the Cape Croker Reserve in Ontario, says decisions made regarding the artistic medium and future location should not have simply been announced, but rather made with the input from the aboriginal community.
“It’s a way of the government to impose itself . . . and give themselves a pat on the back,” she says. “Will survivors march over to Parliament Hill and proudly look at a stained-glass window? To me, it’s doubtful that survivors will feel comfortable going to see this piece of artwork that has been imposed on them,” says Akiwenzie-Damm.
As with the Harper apology, the announcement is likely to “stir a range of emotions,” says Dewar.
“The government might be due some credit for what some might call an act of reconciliation.”