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What is The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada ?
The Truth Commission was founded on September 3, 2000 in Vancouver , Canada , by forty-eight aboriginal and non-aboriginal activists. It was created to continue the investigative work of two previous public Tribunals into Crimes of Genocide in Canada , including the United Nations-affiliated IHRAAM Tribunal of June, 1998.
At its founding meeting, the Truth Commission established its mandate of investigating, publicizing, and bringing to justice those responsible for, all crimes of Genocide committed against aboriginal peoples and the land by churches, the Canadian government, and other bodies and persons.
The Truth Commission presently consists of a central Executive body of elders, and three regional committees covering western, central, and eastern Canada .
Since September, 2000, the Truth Commission has achieved the following:
1. Published two books containing first-hand and documentary evidence of deliberate Genocide, murder, and other crimes in Indian Residential Schools operated by the government of Canada and the Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada. (*see below)
2. Brought to justice criminals by supplying evidence to Canadian courts of law that successfully convicted perpetrators of crimes against native people in residential schools.
3. Forced the government of Canada to publicly acknowledge the deaths of thousands of children in church-run Indian residential schools. (Globe and Mail, April 24, 2007)
4. Produced an award-winning documentary film on genocide in Canadian residential schools, UNREPENTANT.
5. Won public acknowledgement and compensation for thousands of residential school survivors.
6. Established a network of healing and justice circles in aboriginal communities across Canada for survivors of residential schools and their families.
7. Conducted a systematic public education campaign to teach Canadians and the world the full truth of the Genocide inflicted on aboriginal people in Canada .
8. Engaged in public protests and vigils outside churches and government offices to expose these crimes.
9. Worked with indigenous people around the world to bring the truth of the Canadian Genocide to the United Nations and other international bodies, and to establish an international investigation into this Genocide.
10. Systematically documented the testimonies of over 1,000 aboriginal survivors of residential school atrocities and other crimes against aboriginal people, and conducted exhaustive research in government, church and other archives.
11. Saved the lives of countless survivors of residential school atrocities.
How You Can Help:
The work of the Truth Commission is finally garnering international recognition and support. In August of 2004, the Belgian Defense Minister publicly quoted from the Truth Commission's report, "Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust", and called for a U.N. inquiry into Genocide in Canada . That same month, Mayan indigenous groups in Guatemala called on the government of Canada and its churches to publicly respond to the accusations of murder made against it by Canadian Indians. As a result, two U.N. investigators have begun initial meetings in Canada to respond to these allegations.
The Truth Commission needs your help to achieve our goal of bringing to international justice the criminal bodies and persons that committed mass murder against generations of Canadian native people.
Here's what you can do:
1. Circulate this notice to your friends, family, churches, and other organizations.
2. Volunteer in one or more of our sub-committees (Education, Action, and Research).
3. Pledge funds to support the travel and investigative work of our staff. Find out more details by writing to our Commission at: hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.ca
4. Read, listen to and circulate the information on our websites at:
5. * Procure copies of our books and film UNREPENTANT for your local library:
* Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust (2005) (obtainable through our email address)
* Love and Death in the Valley (2002) at: www.1stbooks.com/bookview/11639
* UNREPENTANT can be ordered through our email address or viewed on the internet at google video
6. Listen to our weekly radio program at CFRO 102.7 FM in Vancouver , every Monday at 1 pm (archived at www.hiddenfromhistory.org or online at www.coopradio.org)
7. Sign the petition on the website: http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org
8. Invite speakers from the Truth Commission to conferences and gatherings in your community.
9. Formally affiliate your organization with the Truth Commission. Contact our Secretary, Kevin Annett, for more information.
With thanks for your help,
The Executive,
The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada
Kevin D. Annett, Secretary
(250) 753-3345 ( Canada )
Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org “Kevin is more deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than many who have received it in the past.” - Dr. Noam Chomsky Institute Professor Emeritus Massachusetts Institute of Technology “A courageous and inspiring man." (referring to Kevin Annett) - Mairead Corrigan-Maguire Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Belfast , Northern Ireland The very lands we all along enjoyed they ravished from the people they destroyed ... All the long pretenses of descent are shams of right to prop up government. ' Tis all invasion, usurpation all; ' Tis all by fraud and force that we possess, and length of time can make no crime the less; Religion's always on the strongest side. Daniel Defoe, Jure Divino (England, 1706)
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