Racism, and dealing with the trauma that it causes, was one of more than a dozen related subjects discussed at the International Institute of Restorative Practices’ 2017 Summer Symposium at the Hotel Bethlehem in July. A total of 78 people from around the world attended the three-day event titled, “A Restorative Journey: Transforming Relational Harm.”

Kevin Cutter of Toronto, Canada, and Kevin Jones from Bloomington, Ill., shared their experiences working with traumatized children from residential and transitional schools.

Cutter, a trainer for IIRP Canada, has extensive experience dealing with the consequences of 400 years of colonialism on the Inuit people in Canada. “The natives moved around. They didn’t live in communities as they do now. As colonialists, we found that problematical. We wanted them to stay in one place and go to school. Otherwise, they were no use to us if they couldn’t read,” Cutter said. “So, we actually relocated them.”

Starting around 1870, Cutter said social service workers went into the villages and took the children away, placing them in residential schools for indigenous students 100 or 200 miles away from their homes. “The philosophy being communicated was that we can save the people from themselves by taking the Indian out of the child. They were taught to reject their culture, way of life and religion. They lost their identity; they didn’t know where they came from.”

The consequences of generations of divided families and loss of culture, according to Cutter, is that there are “entire generations of people in villages who have no idea how to raise children. After residential schools, sex abuse, incest, physical abuse is what they experienced and were taught, so that is how they tend to teach their children.”

This “generational trauma” also is reflected in a suicide rate among indigenous people much higher than other groups, Cutter said.

Working through IIRP, Cutter said he is trying to help the Inuit develop processes they can trust. “This is a perfect storm for me. Now I am learning ways to get them to learn together to deal with the trauma. Now they are learning their own language and how to fish and hunt.”

Cutter said, “Teachers are at a crossroad of talking about intergenerational trauma,” but he cautioned, “We have to be careful that we are not using our white colonialist privilege to work with these people.”

Kevin Jones, who trained in the same restorative practices class as Cutter, has been working in transitional schools for the past 20 years. “My journey started working with students dealing with trauma.”

After having everyone in the room give his or her name and nationality, Jones commented,

“People have separated themselves for a very long time. Having the tough conversations with people who discriminate against you or with people who have differences is important. If we avoid it, we never get past it.”