For Immediate Release
March 4, 2004
Canada and the United Church of Canada will host an potlatch, to be organized by the Gitxsan, beginning 1:00 PM, Saturday, March 20, 2004 at the Gitanmaax Community Hall, Hazelton, BC to formally and publicly apologize to the Gitxsan for the internment of Gitxsan children at Indian Residential Schools. According to the organizers, the theme for the potlatch is “Hla Gwxhs Bekg’um.” The theme is a Gitxsan term that characterizes the Gitxsan posture of symbolically reinstating the survivors into Gitxsan Society.
Although the apology will be to the Gitxsan as a whole, a special focus will be on the 25 survivors of the Edmonton Indian Residential School who piloted a recently completed alternate dispute resolution program between the Gitxsan, Canada, and the United Church. Together, they achieved a settlement for legacy of physical and sexual abuse while interned at the EIRS. Because cultural and language loss is not a recognized cause of action, it was not considered in the pilot project.
The anticipated 400 guests will not only include dignitaries from Canada and the United Church but also VIPS from the 40 Gitxsan extended families, the local bands, local Gitxsan service organizations, regional and provincial aboriginal political and services organizations. The program will include a welcome from the Gitanmaax Simgigyat, the serving of traditional Gitxsan feast soup, the usual giveaway and gifting, traditional Gitxsan drummers and singers will entertain the guests, and responses from the Simgigyat of the Gitxsan after they hear the formal apology from Canada and the United Church.
As a commemoration to the internment of the Gitxsan, the entire special event will be filmed, edited, and produced for distribution locally and abroad.
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For more information, contact
George Muldoe, an EIRS survivor, tel 1(250) 842-6627, fax 1(250) 842-0175, georgemuldoe@hotmail.com
Matilda Daniels, Special Event Coordinator, Wilp Si’satxw Community Healing Centre, 1(877) 849-5211, wilpchc@navigata.net
More information:
George Muldoe
Survivor, Edmonton Indian Residential School
georgemuldoe@hotmail.com
1-250-842-6627
