A CN Rail diesel-electric locomotive moves through the rail yard in Dartmouth, N.S. on March 29, 2018.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
The head of Canadian National Railway Co.’s council of Indigenous advisers says the group quit after it became apparent the company had no intention of taking the proper steps to repair its relationship with Indigenous peoples.
The 12-member body, CN’s Indigenous Advisory Council, announced its resignation on Monday, after failing to convince the Montreal-based railway to apologize and take other measures to address its roles in colonization and residential schools, Roberta Jamieson, co-chair of the group, said in an interview.
“As a result of the history, CN CNR-T and other rail companies continue to enjoy the benefit of what happened. Whereas our people continue to endure the loss,” Ms. Jamieson said.
The group has recently submitted two reports to the company containing advice that was not acted upon, added Ms. Jamieson, who is Mohawk, and was the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a law degree. “We were very concerned that to continue our work any longer … would really mislead Indigenous peoples in particular and Canadians generally as to the sincerity [and] authenticity that CN has,” she said.
CN formed the council in 2021. It is made up of prominent members of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, including Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Murray Sinclair, a judge and former senator.
CN said at the time that the council’s mandate was to advise the company’s board and executives on matters that are “relevant to CN and its relationships” with Indigenous communities.
However, the council, whose resignation is effective Dec. 31, said in a statement that CN’s “ineffective” use of its advice signals the company has “missed the mark on reconciliation.”
“Any student of history in Canada knows that railways are very much associated with the dispossession of Indigenous people of land,” Ms. Jamieson said. “There’s quite a dark and tragic history associated with railways generally. And when we asked Indigenous communities across Canada what are the priority issues we should be focusing on, all of them said we’re very keen to have positive relations with CN, but it starts with an apology.”
CN and the council representatives declined to release the reports or elaborate on the recommendations. CN declined an interview request and issued a six-paragraph statement it referred to as an “acknowledgment.”
“CN is grateful for the privilege of operating within or adjacent to more than 220 reserve lands of nearly 130 First Nations and Métis Communities,” the statement says. “CN acknowledges the past and present-day injustices that Indigenous peoples have faced and continue to face. We also acknowledge the complex history of railways and the role they played as instruments of colonial policies, as well as the intergenerational economic, cultural, and social effects that these policies have had on Indigenous communities. The construction and operation of the railways in Canada have affected the land and its original people, their cultures, traditions, and ways of life.”
Ms. Jamieson said the statement fell short of being an apology.
CN is a former Crown corporation that carried passengers until 1978. The freight railway now employs 25,000 people and has a 32,000-kilometre network that spans Canada and runs south into the United States.
Passenger trains were used to remove Indigenous children from their homes and communities as part of Canada’s residential school system, a regime that inflicted harm and suffering on generations of Indigenous people. The system was designed to erase First Nations cultures and identities, and it subjected the children to isolation and abuse. The schools, sponsored by the government and run by churches, began operating in the 1800s. The last one closed in 1996.
Larry Beardy, a survivor of the residential school system, told Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2012 that he and his siblings were put on a “train of tears” in Churchill, Man., and sent 1,200 kilometres away to a school in Dauphin, Man.
“My mother was not there. ... There was a lot of crying on that train,” Mr. Beardy said. “If you understand the Canadian National Railway, families lived in sections every 20 [or] 15 miles, and children will get on the train, and then there’d be more crying, and everybody started crying, all the way to Dauphin, that’s how it was.”
The council said its work was informed by the commission, which called on Canadian companies to ensure Indigenous people are consulted on projects and have access to jobs, among other things. CN’s “complicated and dark history” sets it apart from the rest of corporate Canada, the group said.
Leanne Bellegarde, a member of CN’s Indigenous council, said the train horns heard in Indigenous communities across Canada are reminders of that legacy.
“It evokes historical ties to children being removed, troops being bought in to quell rebellions, the taking of our people to residential schools,” Ms. Bellegarde said. She added that the trains create safety concerns, and that their cargoes highlight economic disparities.
“We see now the wealth that goes through our communities carried on those trains that have such dark legacies for us, and no participation in that,” Ms. Bellegarde said.