When Roy Henry Vickers speaks about his powerful new artwork 乌鸦传媒淭hey Were Buried in the Night乌鸦传媒� he chokes up.

乌鸦传媒淭he angel is rising from the skulls of the children who have died, and her arms are uplifted, and there乌鸦传媒檚 new life,乌鸦传媒� Vickers describes. 乌鸦传媒淎nd that new life shines on us all. So the rays come from that beautiful little child. And that乌鸦传媒檚 what I see. Healing will bring beauty back to the people, people will reconnect to the land, all of us, because we all live here, new life.乌鸦传媒�

Vickers hopes the discovery of 215 children in unmarked graves at the former residential school in Kamloops, and the thousands that are sure to follow according to estimates by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is a wake-up call to all Canadians.

乌鸦传媒淔or me, the great thing about all of these bodies coming to the mass knowledge of Canadians is, well, maybe now people will begin to hear, and if they begin to hear then there will be compassion because you can乌鸦传媒檛 listen to these stories and not feel them deep down inside if you乌鸦传媒檙e a human being and have a heart and everybody does.

乌鸦传媒淥nce that happens then the compassion of us, as Canadians, for the Indigenous people actually helps to bring about the change for healing and that乌鸦传媒檚 the only thing that乌鸦传媒檚 going to change and that乌鸦传媒檚 for us to heal.乌鸦传媒�

He also hopes it will lead to some concrete action.

乌鸦传媒淢y dream is, now that we know these bodies are here, they can乌鸦传媒檛 be left there, they should be exhumed, DNA done no matter what cost.

乌鸦传媒淲e just spent the money on a ridiculous election that would have taken care of this whole thing, identify the bodies, return them to their homes. The massive amount of healing that would come from that is priceless, you can乌鸦传媒檛 even put a value in money on that.乌鸦传媒�

Vickers, a third-generation survivor of the residential school system, has personal experience of the generational trauma imposed by not just the horrors at residential schools, but the decades of silence that followed.

乌鸦传媒淲henever we spoke about genocide it was 乌鸦传媒榗ultural genocide,乌鸦传媒� but no it乌鸦传媒檚 a genocide when you look at the number of bodies, mostly murdered, experiments done on them, kids thrown down stairs, girls raped and pregnant and go hang themselves because they can乌鸦传媒檛 stand the shame.

乌鸦传媒淧eople came back and they were told they would go to hell if they ever spoke of it once they left school so I heard nothing from my grandmother, from my dad, from any of my uncles and aunts and I went to them directly.

乌鸦传媒淚f we don乌鸦传媒檛 talk about it, how is anything going to change and how am I to know why my dad乌鸦传媒檚 behaviour is as it is unless I know what happened to him, so it乌鸦传媒檚 generations of unresolved trauma.

乌鸦传媒淣ow we乌鸦传媒檙e at a point that the inside rage and anger of those who suffered to the end of their lives, most of them because there was no one to help them deal with the trauma, and people wonder why there is so much addiction among Indigenous people.乌鸦传媒�

Vickers has been there himself, in a place where the rage, suffering and addiction almost led him to suicide.

乌鸦传媒淎t 45 years of age on Valentine乌鸦传媒檚 Day, I hit the end of my rope for the last time, I thought, and I was going to put a bullet in my brain like so many have, but fortunately I was taught that life is a gift and you do not have the right to end it.

乌鸦传媒淪o, I only had one choice, as Bob Dylan says, I have to change my way of thinking, make a different set of rules.

乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 been two decades of moving through the trauma and constantly having to go back and look at it again and seeing it come up again and deal with it again and that乌鸦传媒檚 the way it is when you乌鸦传媒檙e healing and if you乌鸦传媒檙e not healing then you乌鸦传媒檙e just in this hopeless, dark, angry, shameful place and nobody wants to hear you.乌鸦传媒�

Now, he speaks through his art.

乌鸦传媒淢y pictures are worth a thousand words, look at my pictures if you want to know hear what I have to say.乌鸦传媒�

Vickers was not impressed by the federal government making Sept. 30 a statutory holiday called the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, feeling like it smacks of the same old patriarchal colonialism of the past.

乌鸦传媒淭he reconciliation the government talks about is bringing Indigenous people back to this beautiful relationship they had with the government. There wasn乌鸦传媒檛 one. They were oppressors from day one. We were people who were in the way of the settlers.

乌鸦传媒淭here乌鸦传媒檚 nothing to reconcile from that standpoint, but spiritually and soulfully, there is something to reconcile. But the leaders can乌鸦传媒檛 see that. They don乌鸦传媒檛. They don乌鸦传媒檛 even know what I乌鸦传媒檓 talking about.乌鸦传媒�

But while he has little patience for politicians, he has a little more faith in the Canadian public.

乌鸦传媒淚 think it should be a national day of mourning for Indigenous people, not truth and reconciliation.

乌鸦传媒淚f it is treated like that, by Canada as a nation, that would be incredible. And I know it will be. That乌鸦传媒檚 the way it乌鸦传媒檒l be looked on by Indigenous people across this country. And we have a national day. Not Aboriginal day, but a national day of mourning.

乌鸦传媒淎nd it乌鸦传媒檚 time.乌鸦传媒�

Prints of 乌鸦传媒淭hey Were Buried in the Night乌鸦传媒� will be available through the Roy Vickers Gallery in the near future. Next year, Vickers plans to paint a 90-foot wall of skulls in Terrace.

editor@interior-news.com
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