Public Announcement
To all survivors of "Indian Residential Schools" and "Indian Hospitals", and their families and descendents:
An Invitation to make History
The time has come for the full truth of the crimes of the residential schools to be shared before the world, so that those responsible can be brought to justice, and the spirits of the departed can be laid to a final rest.
Commencing on September 5, 2007, a travelling human rights Tribunal will visit many indigenous nations across Canada to hold public and private sessions where you can share your story and other evidence regarding what actually went on in the residential schools and hospitals - and how these crimes against our people are continuing today.
Convened under the land law jurisdictions of the Anishinabe, Cree and Metis Nations, this Tribunal has a simple mandate: to gather the proof that genocide of indigenous people occured and is occuring across Canada.
One of the primary aims of the Tribunal is to identify the fate and buried location of the more than 50,000 children who died in residential schools and hospitals, and arrange the repatriation of their remains to their traditional territories for a proper burial.
The Tribunal will open in Port Alberni, British Columbia, on September 5, 2007, and will travel eastward over the following three months. It will include international human rights observers from indigenous nations around the world, local tribal elders, and members of the media.
Before the end of this year, we plan to present our findings to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City.
We, the founding elders of the International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), personally invite you to to welcome us onto your territory and to fully participate in our work and sessions. We need to hear your stories and gather the evidence that will make justice a reality.
We ask you to circulate this notice to your friends and families, and to encourage your own elders to welcome us and participate in our work. Please contact us at the numbers below if you can help us.
We look forward to working with you to end the suffering and bring a true and lasting healing to all our peoples. The truth shall set us all free.
With warmest regards and in the spirit of our Creator,
Louis Daniels - Whispers Wind, Elder, Anishinabe Nation
Jeremiah Jourdain, Elder, Metis-Cree Nation
Co-convenors,
The International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC)
c/o 260 Kennedy St.
Nanaimo, B.C. Canada V9R 2H8
ph: 250-753-3345
(after September 4, leave a message at 1-888-265-1007 or email us at these addresses: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca
Our website is: http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org
Issued under the authority of our Hereditary Land Law Jurisdiction from unceded Coast Salish Territory, Turtle Island, 23 August, 2007
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