‘To this day, I dislike the word obedient,’ residential school survivor Senator Mary Jane McCallum talks about reconciliation

The only residential school survivor in the Upper Chamber, Senator Mary Jane McCallum talks about attending residential school, sitting today in 'the most colonialist body in Canada,' but trying to make a positive impact in her daily life.

Sen. Mary Jane McCallum, pictured in 2020, on the Hill, says the best way for Parliamentarians to engage in reconciliation is to put themselves into sometimes uncomfortable situations by visiting First Nations communities and listening to the people. 'Just going to speak with them and spending the day with them will do such wonders.'The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Feature

BY IAN CAMPBELL

August 16, 2021

When Sen. Mary Jane McCallum (Manitoba) thinks about what shaped her as a Parliamentarian today, she says it was the earlier time of her life, before she was forced to attend a residential school. Sen. McCallum, the only current member of the Senate who is a residential school survivor, attended Gu...

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