The story needs to be told

   I had a conversation with my sister who is a high school teacher.  She had an Aboriginal woman come in and talk to her class about residential school system, about the missing and murdered Aboriginal women and about her experiences as an Aboriginal woman.  She had the class reduced to tears by the end.  They had had no idea how the reality that an Aboriginal woman faces on a daily basis and how their history has impacted their present lives.  More importantly my sister was shocked because she knew almost nothing of this history and we both remember never being taught this in school.  The Truth and Reconciliation Committee has brought out all of this into the public sphere where it needs to be.  It has also high lighted how this education is sorely lacking in schools, kids have grown up simply not learning of Canada's history with its Native peoples.  When you learn the stories, you understand what is happening and the horrible, ignorant comments that are said about Native people and other marginalized people can be stopped because there are educated people out there who can stand up and say that this is not the truth and the reality and you are wrong.  My sister is doing that with her high school students, even though she had to learn all of this at the same time as them.
   This is what I was thinking of when I was reading the paper by Sherene Razack.  We need to know the stories behind the names.  I know this happened ten years ago, but how much has really changed? I felt this especially when Shawna was talking about how the prostitutes were still treated by the cops and how how when one was found dead around the police officers funeral, there was no news about her.  This is reinforced by Razacks statement "Primarily, I claim that because Pamela George was considered to belong to a space in which violence routinely occurs, and to have a body that is routinely violated..."(93).  This is important because many people still feel this way.  When I have conversations with some of the people that I know, this is the prevailing theme, they deserved it.  This is not too surprising unfortunately when the judge himself reinforced to the jury that Pamela George was a prostitute "The judge sparked a public furor when he instructed the jury to bear this in mind in their deliberations"(92).  I found this to be infuriating.  This is why education is so important.  Canada's unsavory history needs to be taught so people don't forget and actually just learn what really happened and how the repercussions are still being felt by the families today.  Not every teacher is like my sister so this has to be implemented in the curriculum by the government.  I have had to explain to too many people what the reality is for Native people and it is disheartening to see that people still don't know the truth and are believing the stereotypes.