Library program features Patch

BRYANT POND — On Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 2 p.m. at the Whitman Memorial Library in Bryant Pond, Arla Patch will speak about the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

She has been serving on the Communications Subcommittee since last January and will share a powerpoint giving an historical overview and current goals.

Most Maine residents are not aware that there has been an intentional policy of assimilation of native peoples by the US government since the 1800s. By stripping them of their culture, language, family and community, the avowed intention had been to “kill the Indian and save the man.”

Forced residential schooling and forced adoption/foster arrangements with non-Native families set in motion a chain of intergenerational losses, as children without a strong sense of self, community and culture passed on their trauma to their children.

These wounds and losses are still felt in Maine native communities today.

This Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is being formed in Maine to discover the truth about the experiences of Wabanaki people with state child welfare programs, and to promote healing and lasting change for the children taken and their families.

All Whitman Memorial Library programs are free and open to the public.