Lorelei Williams Says Canadians Must Believe The Dark Truth Of The Genocide

National Observer of Canada spoke with Lorelei Williams, Advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and their families, ahead of National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Williams is an Inland Salish / Coast Salish woman from Skatin Nations / Sts’Ailes, Vancouver, BC. She started a dance group called Butterflies in Spirit to empower indigenous women in her community and spread images of her aunt Belinda Williams, who disappeared in 1978, and in honor of her cousin Tonya Holyk, who was the victim of Robert Pickton in 1996. The group dances wearing T-shirts with photographs of their missing and murdered loved ones and has performed in Canada, Colombia and Mexico.

She used to be the women’s coordinator at the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Police Center and a volunteer for the Coalition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Vancouver.

(This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity).

What does National Truth and Reconciliation Day mean to you?

For me, it is as if part of the world is seeing the truth. When I speak internationally, I always received the same responses, they always said they thought Canada was perfect. When I was talking about residential schools and what they did to us, everyone always said, “Why did they target the children?” As if they were so surprised to hear that. It’s hard to say this, you know, it took the bodies of those children, it took those children to be found, for a little part of Canada to wake up and a little part of the world to wake up to the genocide against our people. Finally, people are understanding. They are finally realizing this. Finally, they are hearing the truth. But there are many racist people who do not accept this. They still believe that there is no genocide, there was no genocide against our people.

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As September 30 approaches, what emotions are you feeling or expecting to feel on that day?

Honestly, I don’t know because sometimes I feel like I can be strong, but emotions just take over me. When I first found out (about the unmarked graves in Kamloops, BC), I actually went to Kamloops right away and you could feel it. Whenever you go to residential school in Canada, I’ve only been to two: my parents’ residential school and Kamloops, it’s such a cold and creepy feeling. You feel it automatically immediately as soon as you step on the ground, and especially when you walk into schools. I used to go to my parents’ residential school. They used to have meetings at school for other things, and even as a kid, if I was wandering alone or with other kids, there was always a strange feeling there for me.

So when I went to Kamloops after learning about the children’s graves, I felt that feeling. The first time I went to the monument, I just took a back seat, and when they put the shoes on the monument at the (Vancouver) Art Gallery, it was fine. But I came back a week later and I thought, “I’ll be fine to go.” … As soon as I went up … I was alone (and) there was a big difference, and it was uncontrollable, my tears kept coming out. I have two children and I explained to them: “We are very lucky to be here right now. We are very fortunate to be here and alive. “All those children did not make it. They did not have children.

In light of the more than 1,000 unidentified graves that have been confirmed this summer, what action needs to be taken immediately, either by the people or the government?

It really is more than 6,000 now that i know so far. That is the number that is circulating now. It’s going to be more for sure, because it’s not just here in Canada, it’s down in the US as well. I’m just waiting for my mom and dad’s school.

With the government, first of all, everyone in the government must acknowledge that there was a genocide against our people. I noticed that some politicians say there is no genocide, or they say things like, “Oh, the schools were good for the kids.” It’s like, no. I know one person, they were able to go through the residential school without anything happening to them. But most of them were raped, sexually abused, starved, used for medical experiments, beaten, beaten, my mother is one of them.

There are so many people all over this country that they don’t really believe that there was a genocide against our people. They don’t really believe that these things have happened to children, especially when leaders, politicians are saying things like this. They are minimizing it. Go against. People listen to those (leaders and politicians), especially racists, they will feed on that.

There is a lot of systemic racism, especially in the child welfare system. It pains me to say this, but when the children were in residential schools, an old man said this, they had each other, whereas now, indigenous children are being divided into foster homes with non-indigenous people. They are separated from each other and do not have each other in these homes. The flip side is that there are so many white foster parents who only do this to get money. They’re the ones who don’t care about when the kids turn 18 … they just kick them out, kick them out, tell them they’re on their own and we can’t have those kinds of people who stand up to our kids. This is a big problem in the system right now, and it’s because government policies support it. They could use the money to support the family, they could use the money to get to the root of the trauma that the government caused us. But they don’t do that.

What meaningful action should Canadian settlers take on September 30 and beyond?

First of all, go to the events that are happening across the country. I know there is one in Vancouver and in fact we are also involved (Butterflies in Spirit) I would be acting at the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon. Buy orange t-shirts from indigenous companies, from indigenous peoples. Many people are profiting from this by stealing the designs of indigenous peoples. It is so horrible. So, look at the events that are happening that day. Definitely don’t take up any space. The space is for survivors and intergenerational survivors, their children.

I definitely noticed that a lot of non-indigenous people are listening, they are supporting. Like, I went to get my nails done and people were talking about it. Also, everyone has their own gifts, everyone has their own experience in something. Right now, our indigenous peoples need all the support they can get. Many of our elders are excited, they are sad. Maybe they could offer their expertise on certain things, like with the media (for) survivors and people who want to speak, who want to have a voice. Sometimes that is healing them … just being able to talk about it, but it must be done in a safe way. I have seen survivors talk about what happened to them for the first time and they fell apart. So it has to be in a safe way. Give them the space and time they need.

So these are just a few things, like instead of offering me food, give it to whoever you know who is a survivor, offer something. Maybe they need a ride to events, maybe they need a ride to get something to eat. That day is going to be very difficult for people across the country, so anything little, maybe they need something from the store. Everyone across the country should know that emotions are going to be high that day and acknowledge and honor it that day.

Is there a message that you would like to convey to all Canadians?

Read this book called Suffer little children by Tamara Starblanket. You will really learn about genocide against our people from that book because it legally proves the crime of genocide. When (people) try to go against me for genocide against our people, I say, go read this book and then we will have a conversation. You cannot go against this book.

Natasha Bulowski / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada National Observer