Michelle Stirling

https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/stirling-nothing-controversial-in-grave-error-indigenous-psychologist/54783

I was happy to chat with Richard Syrett of Sauga96am about a recent article of mine that was published in the Western Standard. The article discussed an interview between Frances Widdowson and Indigenous psychologist Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson (scroll down for full interview). Robertson is an Indigenous psychologist and he found nothing controversial in the book “Grave Error,” a book which has caused a huge kerfuffle in the city of Quesnel, B.C. as explained in my article.

Robertson rejects the notion of ‘genocide’ in Canadian Crown-Indigenous/residential school history though he recognizes that for many people, there is a ‘residential school syndrome‘ which has similarities to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has had success with many of his treatment programs. He also affirms that many Indigenous people are Christians and find great comfort and strength in their religion; some others find solace and healing in traditional Indigenous rituals. He sees this as an individual world view – not a ‘one-size-fits-all.’

In my talk with Richard Syrett, I pointed out that there are reasonable explanations as to why many aboriginal people would have experienced a devastating sense of loss – especially since ambiguous losses are numerous in Indigenous communities – and why that might get conflated with the notion of ‘missing children’ at Indian Residential Schools. My view is that we need historical context to make sense of the pain and suffering that many people feel; by filling in those historical gaps – like that related to “The Forgotten Plague” – the tuberculosis epidemic that was the ‘captain of all these men of death‘ since time immemorial, for everyone, this context will help everyone make sense of the past.

In historical terms, tuberculosis was the greatest killer ever known to mankind. Accounts of TB were found in the writings of ancient Egyptians and in those of Hippocrates, and it was called “The Captain of All These Men of Death” by English writer John Bunyan. At its peak in the U.S., it killed one in every four people.

In the same vein, in a Canadian context, I suggest that people also watch “The Necessities of Life/Ce qu’il faut pour vivre” – a beautiful Quebec-made film that really shows the trauma of that era of TB, before we found pharmaceutical cures.

I still think that one of my first articles on the “mass grave” news stories offers people a simple, yet comprehensive overview of the missing historical context in media stories – and addresses the very real suffering of people who went to TB ‘sans’ to be healed, but often they were left ‘wounded’ and displaced from family and friends.

The interview with Richard Syrett is here:

My two books are on Kindle now:

Rational Spaces Disputation interview is here:

I do all this work on my own time. I offer many free resources on this site and on my MEDIUM page. If you’d like to support my research and my efforts to calm the storm and bridge the gaps, to truly reconcile, feel free to help out. Many thanks. (PS sharing material is also good!)