“Hawaiian junket gets Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in hot water.
As commission seeks more federal cash for residential-schools panel, bill for members' Honolulu trip is pegged at as much as $6,000.”
So read the headline in the GLOBE AND MAIL published on September 2nd, 2010 and written by a Bill Curry.
During my stint as an appointed Inuit Board member with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) from 1999 to 2004, I had always advocated the need for a “by Survivors for Survivors” attitude. Surviving residential school required that kind of respect. Still, there are non-Survivors riding and benefiting from the financial wave on the backs of those of us who truly deserve more than what has been offered. For example, George Erasmus, President of the AHF and a non-Survivor will be compensated over one million dollars for his tenure up to 2012. And, Mike DeGagne, Executive Director of the AHF and another non-Survivor will likely appreciate his benefits along with his $130k…ish salary with bonuses. The average compensation for a Survivor is a measly $16000! Oh, my God!
Still, as a former Board member of the AHF, I was careful on the “optics” of taking care of business that included staying within the confines of Canada. Therefore, I am baffled by the “junket” two TRC Commissioners have chosen to embark on to Hawaii. The trip is very inviting but “personal development” for the Commissioners is certainly not within the mandate of the TRC.
“It’s on the backs of survivors,” Michael Cachagee fumed. The executive director of the National Residential Schools Survivors Society noted that his organization has largely been silenced after Ottawa cut off all funding last year, citing concern over expenses.”
“They come down here and nitpick the hell out of me and the organization, yet you’ve got these clowns going off to Hawaii,” he said.”
“Officials with the commission have suggested that their budget may not be enough to accomplish the massive task of crossing the country to gather stories from former students, many of whom live in remote communities. Meetings are scheduled to take place when the commissioners return to determine whether they will ask Ottawa for more money.”
More money? Let’s hope the TRC will cross the country, not cross the world...for Survivors sake.
