Zach Whitecloud: 'This trauma isn't history, it's still happening'
On the first-ever National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, the Golden Knights defenseman says true reconciliation has to come through education
For the first time in his career, Zach Whitecloud is entering a season secure in the knowledge that there is a roster spot waiting for him on a hockey team. It’s a little strange that it’s happening now that he’s playing for one of the top teams in the best league in the world, but the path to playing in the NHL is never a linear one. Just ask Whitecloud, who went undrafted in the Western Hockey League and the NHL and, until now, has never felt as though his spot on any roster was secure. “I’ve never been guaranteed anything,” Whitecloud said. “Nothing comes easily in this life and nothing ever will.”
As Canada marks its first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Whitecloud’s words ring truer than ever. Nothing comes easily in this lifetime, as many Indigenous people in Canada can attest. And neither does truth or reconciliation. But the past year or so have been a time of reckoning for the non-Indigenous of this country as we’re forced to confront the damage that was done by the residential school system. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honors the survivors and the lost children of that system and brings to light how generations of First Nations people have been negatively impacted by what was basically cultural genocide.
Whitecloud is a member of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation that resides just west of Brandon, Man. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996, the year Whitecloud was born. He grew up around people who were forced into residential schools and has heard their stories. It was when he took the time to learn about the impacts of the residential school system that he realized how important it is for people to continue to tell their stories. He spoke often to his aunt Katherine Whitecloud, an elder in the community who is described as a mother, grandmother, community leader and knowledge keeper for the Wipazoka Wakpa Dakota Nation. In 2018, she was also a candidate for National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. It was from his aunt that Whitecloud learned that education is the key to moving forward.
“The main thing that people don’t understand, and even I truly didn’t understand until I got older and more educated, this trauma isn’t history,” Whitecloud said. “It’s still happening. It lives within our people, the elders in our community. The neglect and abuse don’t just live in one generation that attended the schools. It has carried on throughout.”
Whitecloud expressed his heartbreak at the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children from the Tk’emlups Te Secwepemc First Nation on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., in May. He spoke with his aunt before he posted his thoughts on social media. “I asked my auntie, ‘For me to speak out, what is the most important thing for people to know or for people to learn?’ ” Whitecloud said. “And she said, ‘It’s not the past. It’s still ongoing and people have to learn about it.’ I really think the only way it can be taught is if you truly try to learn and grasp just how horrific it was.”
Whitecloud said he had teammates on the Golden Knights who came to him and asked more about it. The fact that so many of us are just really learning about the atrocities now is a damning indictment of an education system that, until recently, had never addressed the topic. That is changing and people are finally beginning to be enlightened. Whitecloud is learning along with the rest of us. And knowledge is really the only thing that is going to bridge the gap between First Nations and the rest of Canada. Whitecloud will continue to do what he can.
“When I speak on it, I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone or causing grief to anyone,” Whitecloud said. “It’s simply about education and learning. The one thing my auntie taught me is our culture is about reconciliation, it’s about moving forward in a positive way by educating people. It’s not about blaming anyone. It’s about showing people that this is what happened, this is what our ancestors went through and this is what’s happening today.”