I Know First Hand Why Canada's Aboriginals Need Truth for Reconciliation

I Know First Hand Why Canada's Aboriginals Need Truth for Reconciliation
Posted: 06/02/2015 1:35 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago

The night of September 13, 1976 changed my life. It was the night that I became one of the "Disappeared" in Argentina's Dirty War and it was the night when I became a witness and a voice for those who could no longer speak. The Dirty War was an era when the Argentinian Junta kidnapped, tortured and killed as many as 30,000 people.

The majority of the disappeared were like me, young people who were trying to make Argentina a more just society. I was one of the few Disappeared who were fortunate to have survived. Because I was American by birth and my parents were Mennonite missionaries, they were able to mobilize people across the Americas, including Canada, to raise the alarm and call for my release.

Until the end of the Dirty War, I did what I could to speak for the disappeared. In 1984 democracy returned to Argentina and with it came the start of a collective healing process. Argentina launched a Truth Commission to investigate the atrocities committed by the Junta and its supporters. This process was not without controversy and many survivors and their families held different views on how to move forward. What the Truth Commission did was begin the national conversation in Argentina about what was done in the name of the State, how people were hurt, and the steps required to make the survivors whole and heal the country.

Since then I have been a witness in court, shared my experience with researchers, spoken to community groups and the families of those killed, all in an effort to support the Truth, Justice and Memory movement. I have seen the healing that this movement has brought to those directly affected, like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, but also to the broader public who lived through the Dirty War and to the children born after who deserve to understand and learn from their country's history.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/patricia-erb/truth-and-reconciliation-commission_b_7487926.html

Good reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016123697