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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2015
VOL. 27, NO. 64
Report’s release signals historical turning point
Santa visit
Easton Campbell, left, high fives Santa Claus, while mother Megan looks on. Even though he’s gearing up for a full workload on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus still found time to visit children at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital last Thursday, arriving via B.C. Emergency Health Services ambulance helicopter. Jolly Old St. Nicholas visited children and handed out stuffed animals.
I
BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
Members of Nanaimo’s aboriginal community hope that the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report means the community can move forward and heal. The commission, established to examine abuses suffered by First Nations children at residential schools, released its final report last week. A preliminary report with 94 recommendations was released in June. Nanaimo resident Vicky Stevens, 72, an Ojibwa First Nation member and residential school survivor, said she was taken away at age six to attend a Jesuit-run school in Spanish, Ont. Stevens said she was beaten and never saw her parents and grandmother again. She said the report is “a door that has
KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
Organizations offer alternatives to typical Christmas gifts BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Sources for thinking outside the gift box often aren’t found in the shopping malls, which helps avoid lineups and jammed parking lots. It’s hard to go wrong with giving books at Christmas – they don’t have to be new, either. Rummaging through used book stores can unearth old treasures and purchasers can promote literacy buying from stores like Literacy Central Vancouver Island’s Well Read Books in downtown Nanaimo. Supporting Canadian producers, artists and
authors, especially those in Nanaimo and on the Island, is easy at Strong Nations, located on Island Diesel Way. The company started as a home-based online book retailer, but evolved into a publishing house for aboriginal writers from across Canada. Strong Nations also retails handbags, clothing, jewelry, teas, chocolates, art and even puppets. There is a large section of aboriginal books for teachers, researchers, post-secondary students and those who want to improve their understanding and knowledge of First Nations culture.
2009 CHEVY COBALT
“That’s exactly what we’re all about is building bridges across cultures,” said Terri Mack, store coowner. Support people overseas by buying a goat or chickens for a family in an impoverished nation. Organizations, such as Plan Canada, handle the purchase and delivery of farm livestock, including goats, chickens, sheep and pigs plus training in livestock management, allowing families to start small breeding and production businesses that provide financial security. Please visit https://plancanada.ca. Global Village in Longwood Station focuses on
fair trade products from South America, India, Southeast Asia and Africa. Most everything in the store is handmade and there’s a story behind most products. Arghand soap is handmade by women in Afghanistan. “There was a woman who was over in Afghanistan, who was a reporter, and she started this business up,” said Joan Hiemstra, Global Village operations manager. “The women produce it and there’s a church somewhere down in the States that imports it … and now here we are on Vancouver Island selling that soap.” photos@nanaimobulletin.com
STEVE MARSHALL FORD 250-758-7311
WAS $9,995
“
The TRC final report is an historical turning point, an opportunity to collectively heal.
opened for all of [the] nations.” “I’m hoping that it will give resources that the people need for their children and their children’s children, that they can get healing in their healing centres and in their own culture,” said Stevens. Natasha Bob, Nanaimo school trustee and Nanoose band councillor, said she is an intergenerational survivor of residential school. See ‘INSTITUTIONAL’ /4
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