"We can't have reconciliation, we can't have harmony, we can't have comradarie and peace without abiding in the truth. The truth is something that is rare. That is why we value the truth. Anything that is highly valued tends to be rare. People value precious metal because they are harder to find. Well, the truth is harder to find as well. If you find yourself in a situation where everybody seems to be adopting a narrative that they all think is true and they're swept up in it and they are holding on to it with white knuckled enthusiasm, that has to make you wonder sometimes if the truth is found there." Brian Holdsworth
"Rodney brings a unique perspective, not merely from his own experience, although he does have a great depth of personal experience to share, but also as an expert, as a PHD Sociologist who provided research, and training and teaching through the University of Manitoba, in that capacity he brought together a team of researchers who poured over the vast documentation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was brought together to investigate the history of Residential Schools and to arrive at the Truth of the matter. As he mentions in this interview there are three thousand plus pages in that document and so there are very few people who have actually familiarized themselves with the entirety of that content and even if they have, keeping all that in ordered understanding and perspective is still quite the challenge and that's why so many people rely on the Media to give us the bite sized portions of that or the TRC Summary Report which we discussed in this conversation as well. I've listened to testimonies. I have read reports and I even read a letter today written by an academic to his students in which he conceded the worst parts of the Narrative that we have come to adopt about Residential Schools which is Universally negative, let's admit that for a second, and which he also says 'it's wrong to be defensive about this we have to admit our failings and we have to be willing to be able to examine the Truth even if it makes us uncomfortable'" Brian Holdsworth
