Truth and Reconciliation Commission

   The last Truth and Reconciliation session is being held in Edmonton , Alberta this week.

    Canada has a long history of an  Indian Residential School system. There were many very negative practices that went on in this system. The government set up a system that let churches set up residential schools. The government was happy with this system as they didn't want to organize it themselves. Churches received some government grants.

    First, the Indian children for the most part were taken away from their parents without permission. Worse than that many of the children were taken from their families by force...force of law. Families were split and isolated. Some kids didn't get back to their parents for years. They would be taken back to where they were picked up and the parents had moved on. Children missed their parents terribly and parents missed their kids.

   When the children were away they did not use their own language and did not learn their culture. Stress? You better believe it.

    Second, the education system was designed to strip the Indians of their language and culture. Students were not allowed to use their own language. They didn't know English so it was traumatizing as little communication could take place.. They were told that their traditions were evil. 

    Third, churches ran the residential schools. The government more or less farmed out the education system. They were very happy to have the churches  take on educational  responsibility. What was in it for the churches? Souls! The churches wanted members.

     Fourth , physical and sexual abuse was rampant in these institutions. Kids were horribly scarred from these experiences.

    As a result of the Residential school system, a culture and several generations of Indians were horribly scarred and has resulted in major social problems today.

    To be fair there were schools that were better than average and there were some kids who received a good education and were proud of it.

   Now Prime minister Steven Harper, made an apology on behalf of the government for the wrongs of the Indian Residential School system and then set up the truth and reconciliation commission. The idea was that people would tell their stories and a healing process would begin.

    Much good has come of the truth and reconciliation commission , but their is a glaring omission. The Canadian government has thousands of documents related to Indian Residential schools. The government would not release the documents. So 50% of the truth has not been  told. This is sad and the commission will be only partly successful. It's sad that our government made a apology that has been weakened because they would not release documents and tell their part of the truth.

    It was important that we get these things right and we didn't. So, much more work will have to be done.

    I taught in a government residential school. I was in the residence many times. I will never forget going into a room where 80 little boys were sleeping on cots. It was dreadful to think that these kids were on their own and far from home and family.

    I am somewhat happy for the good that has come out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but far more disappointed for what it didn't do.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

     There' only one thing wrong with this scenario. It ain't Christmas!

      Yesterday we had 10 cm (4 in) of snow. Not heavy wet spring snow but dry powdery winter snow. To add to this we get about the same amount of snow over the next two days.

My standard snow post

      Now I know that 10 cm is not a lot of snow for some places. The Canadian Maritimes had 50 cm (20 in) yesterday. However, some years our winter total of snow is only  10 cm. 

The juniper always catches a good load of snow

    As  for now, I might as well enjoy the snow and not crab so that people will look the other way.

My lamp shade is another standard for measuring snow

My Furnace Thermostat Crashed

     When most thermostats die they have the decency to quietly give up and not create a scene. Sometimes we can tell that the thermostat is on it's last legs and replace it. Sometimes it just quits and we notice the house cooling off or we notice that the furnace isn't running.

     Not my thermostat. Nothing quiet about it's demise. It went out kicking and screaming. 

     One night about six weeks ago my wife got up and hollered , "Red, the roof is caving in." It was at a time when there was much snow on the roof and some roofs were caving in. She said there was ticking and she was sure the roof was caving in. I ignored her as long as I could. I could not hear any ticking. If a roof was caving in there would be loud bangs. I finally turned over so my good ear was off the pillow. I could hear ticking, but it wasn't a roof caving in. I got up quickly to find the source of the ticking. I just stepped in the hallway and realized it was the thermostat. It was shorting off and on. I also noticed that it was quickly turning the burner off and on. That wasn't good so I raced downstairs and turned off the power to the thermostat. 

    Well, it was minus 30 C and the stores weren't open so I fiddled with the thermostat and finally got it set to keep the furnace on.

   Now that was a lot of excitement for a 74 year old at four AM.

   We checked with the company which thermostat would be correct for us and went out and bought it. I quickly installed the thermostat . I found the print on the new thermostat was very small...so small I had to use a magnifying glass. Well, what do you do?  We kept the thermostat. About 6 weeks later a gremlin showed up in the new thermostat. "Return" would appear in the afternoon and turn the furnace off. I couldn't get rid of this gremlin. I could set the furnace to run but I wanted the automatic feature.

   So I took my crazy thermostat back and bought  one with big print.

   Now I have a thermostat like my new car. It's a lot smarter than I am. This thermostat will tell me when the filter needs to be cleaned???

   Needless to say,  I've had a crash course on furnace thermostats and my wife has been given the nickname "Chicken Little."

We Have Never Heard of You

      In the mid sixties my Dad decided to go to Europe with a friend. Dad was in his mid fifties and had not been to Europe.

      Dad had to apply for a passport. He did all his paper work and sent in the application. He was expecting to receive a pass port in the mail. A letter came and it did not contain  a passport. There was  letter that said, "Mr. Kline, we have never heard of you!"

     Dad was amazed. He had filed income tax forms for at least thirty years. Dad gathered information to prove who he was and sent it off. He used his school attendance record and I think a baptismal certificate. This time the passport came.

     Now it's quite a shock to hear from your government that they have never heard  of you. Dad thought it was a hoot.

     One answer this gave to him was that  during he war all of Dad's friends received a letter inviting them to join the forces and fight in the second world War. Dad never got a letter. Now he knew why. The government had never heard of him.

    Most people Dad's age did not have birth certificates. First Dad thought that his Dad had failed to register him when he was born. Dad was born in harvest time and he thought his Dad had maybe for got to get the paperwork done. 

     In Canada, the provinces register the births and then pass the information on to the Federal Govt. What Dad didn't know is that in Saskatchewan  the birth registrations from 1910 to 1912 mysteriously disappeared. Dad was in this group. The federal government was never informed of his birth. 

    Only my Dad could take this situation in a humorous way and tell me about it so that I wouldn't forget it..

The Most Bizarre thing I Ever Bought

    Sometimes the road your life takes ends up with some surprising purchases.

    In 1978 I bought a recreation lot at a lake. The lot was solid native bush , just the way I wanted it. I had the romantic idea that I would build a rustic cabin. I would not have power...just the basics. 

    I started out by building  a small garage. My plan was to use the garage for a kitchen living room while I built my snug cabin. I wanted a stove and fridge. Of course, they had to be propane. Very few propane fridges were made in 1980 and they were expensive. I thought I'd look for a used propane fridge.

   One day I saw and add for a propane fridge. I made arrangements to look at the fridge. I took my utility trailer so that I could haul it back. The fridge I went to look at was really ancient. It had a wood frame. It was also from the time before freezers.  The old fellow said he knew an neighbor back on the farm who might have a propane fridge. He phoned his old neighbor. Sure enough, she had a fridge and wanted to sell it.

   Off we went. The lady took us to an open shed where the fridge had been stored. She bought it in 1948 before she had electricity. These were the days when refrigerators were like small boxcars. This thing was huge. She used the fridge until 1975. The fridge was covered with many layers of dust.  Drawers and racks were missing. The lady went around the yard looking for the parts of the fridge. Ever few minutes she came back with fridge parts. One of the drawers had obviously been used to feed the chickens. It was a mess with many layers of you know what. The other stuff was in similar condition.

   Well, we couldn't find another fridge so we bought this one! The lady assured me it would work. She explained that I had to use a propane torch to start the fridge.

   My wife worked hours to clean this wreck up. She used brushes and steel wool. She kept it in the sun for a week. She soaked it in javex. Finally, the fridge was proclaimed sterile.

   I took the fridge out to the lake and hooked up some copper tubing to a propane bottle. I used my torch and lit the fridge and away it went. I used the fridge for 25  years.

   Oh, I never did get my rustic cabin built. I did have a lot of fun in my garage turned kitchen living room.

  Last summer when I was selling the lot I put the old tank on Kijiji to see if someone would by it. I had bites right away. Two guys really wanted it. I sold it to the first guy for $75.00. The guy who wanted it was a refrigeration mechanic. He knew exactly what he was buying.
    Now before I lose all credibility, I have to tell you that this story was not made up. It really did happen as I described.

   So this fridge was a very bizarre thing to buy. It had a past.

    Have you ever bought anything this weird?
   

I Can't Spin My Wheels Anymore

      ...in the land of the clear new snow where it's 99 below... 

    Yes, here in the land of ice and snow we still have to travel from place to place. We have to get to work, go shopping and take our kids to hockey. We  get where we want to go quickly, efficiently and safely. We have some different driving skills and have modified our vehicles. We have such things as winter tires that do a great job. 

      About 7:30 AM this morning an odd snow flake was floating down. By 8:00 AM it was snowing heavily. By 9:00 AM the wind had got up. The first snow melted on the pavement so the road was wet. Things cooled of and snow stayed on the road so we had a sloppy mess. 

     Now in the good old days you could step on the gas and the wheels would spin. You would sort of test to find the condition of the road. Was it icy? How icy was it? And then if you go farther back in my time some people (maybe me) would purposely spin the wheels and turn the steering wheel and put the car or pick up in a spin. You could make some very attractive tracks on the road and you could brag to your friends about the skid marks. We rarely went in the ditch. There was nobody else out there to run into. Fun times!

     So this morning when I left, I wanted to check the road condition. I pressed the accelerator sharply and nothing happened. The wheels were not going to spin. How come? Well I bought a new fancy dancy car a few weeks ago. It's like one big sensor. There are sensors for everything. One sensor turns my radio volume up and down. At high speeds, when the driving is noisy, the volume is automatically turned up. Slow down and the car is quieter and the volume mysteriously is turned down. 

      So this fancy car has sensors on the wheels that will not allow one wheel to spin. What a disappointment! I can't spin my wheels anymore. But wait a minute. Didn't I read in the 385 page manual that I could turn the wheel sensors off? I'll have to try it when I get the urge to spin my wheels.

What Should We Ask Our Elders?

     On my last post I confidently stated that we should make a list of questions to ask our parents and grand parents. After I published the post I thought, " What would I write down?" I had to stop and think about it. Maybe it's not so easy to make up a list of questions. We have the nagging thought in the back of our head that we would like to know more of our parents and grandparents. But what do we really want to know?

   So the first thing I considered was the age of the son or daughter and parents and grandparents. Questions kids would ask would be different than what adults would ask.  Answers would be different depending on the ages. These days some grandchildren are not that familiar with grandparents.

   I would make up a list of general areas I would interest me. Then I would  say tell me something about the games you played as a kid. This can be a conversation where one answer leads to another question.  ...games at home, school or with friends.

    School would be a big one. My Dad lived less than half a mile from the country school he went to. For some time he lit the fire so the school would be somewhat warm when the other kids got there. I heard this story many times. I didn't hear about his teachers or what they learned. He spent one year in high school where he boarded in town. He wasted his time in the pool room. He did not return to high school. He had regrets about wasting this opportunity.

    He talked about the food they ate and how good it was. What was the food?

   My Dad road freight trains. What was it like?

   I knew small pieces of Mom and Dad's life but not much detail. Our best hope is to fill in some of the detail.

   I have children in their 40's and grandchildren in their teens. What would I want them to know? Remember, I'm going to have to prompt them to ask questions. Funny situations have come up. My Mom kept all my report cards . My daughter was looking at the report cards and said,"Dad, you had poor marks!" I think we have to be ready to tell some things we are not proud of. 

   Other areas I would pencil in for ideas would be: happy times, sad times, work as a child, travel, disappointments, favorite people in their lives, challenges, friends, siblings, grand parents. I like to hear about daily life. My kids should hear about how I milked cows or road horses. They should hear about harvest and cutting hay. They should know about my shenanigans. I was a rascal. 

   This is by no means a complete list. It should grow.

   What questions would you put in your list?