College Community Gathers to Honour 215 Children Found Buried at Kamloops
Posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2021
The Algonquin College community gathered together virtually on Thursday morning to honour the lives of the 215 children whose remains were recently found buried at the Kamloops Residential School.
The purpose of the gathering, explained President and CEO Claude Brulé , was also to honour “the victims and survivors of residential schools across our country” and to “reflect on the discovery.”
Ron (Deganadus) McLester, Vice President, Truth, Reconciliation and Indigenization at Algonquin College, who made opening remarks, said it was time for Indigenous people to be allowed to step back and grieve, and for settler allies to step up and act.
“If that number 215 shocks you, I’ll bet you there’s more than 10,000, there’s residential schools all over the country and now you know,” said McLester, who spoke from the Iskodewan courtyard. “So now the question is ‘how can Indigenous people step back, begin to heal, begin to grieve, and have our settler allies step forward and make right on some of these wampums and commitments that your ancestors made?’ I acknowledge that most people alive had almost nothing to do with that awful history, but people who have come to Turtle Island came here in order to have a better life, and so you benefit from it, and that means you have a responsibility.”
McLester illustrated his point with a personal story, saying that when his father died, people came to his family home and said not to worry about cutting wood or making meals, that they would do that for him so he could grieve. In the same way, he explained, it is time for settlers to do the work and let Indigenous people grieve.
During the gathering, two minutes, 15 seconds of silence was observed to honour the 215 victims, after which the musical duo Twin Flames played a beautiful, sorrowful song, the lyrics of which spoke about grief, loss, love and remembering.
Elder Bertha Skye, who worked as a cook at a residential School beginning in 1949, also spoke from her home on the Six Nations of the Grand River, sharing her experience of working in a residential school, and reflecting on the discovery in Kamloops.
“For Canadians, the news of 215 children found on the grounds of Kamloops Residential School seems unbelievable, and part of their history, your history,” she said. “For Indigenous people, this is part of our family stories. 215 children never made it home. 430 parents. 860 grandparents. And countless aunties and uncles that never saw their loved ones. 150,000 children taken across Canada. 139 schools. 6000 deaths. 20,000 survivors still with us.”
“I ask you as Canadians to continue to acknowledge the children and all the children,” she said, “Don’t ask us what you can do. Do not take or grieve as your own. Continue to acknowledge this day, this history, our history, and say we will not forget. We will not cry in shock. We know the truth. Say ‘we will support you and support people and use your vote to help us hold your state accountable.”
Members of Algonquin’s leadership team made statements of reflection and commitment during the event.
Tracy McDougall, Director, President’s Office and Communications, spoke about how the discovery in Kamloops led to a moment of reckoning over how little she knew and how recently she learned about the devastating impact of residential schools. “Now that I know about it, it’s unforgettable, and it’s really unforgivable, and that’s not the Canada I learned about, that I was taught. And up until a few years ago I didn’t even know about residential schools. This is all very new information for me, but now I do.” She said that moving forward she was going to commit to “learning more about the true history of Canada.”
Diane McCutcheon, Vice President, Human Resources at Algonquin, offered her condolences to the families of the victims found at Kamloops, their communities, the survivors, and their descendants. She also said that she recognizes “these words are just words and that it is action that is important, as we’ve heard from Ron and Elder Skye and the community, and when I ask myself as a settler, what is it that I can do, what action is it that I can take over this horrendous chapter of our history so that it is never repeated nor forgotten, I commit to listening, I commit to learning, I commit to seeking to understand and to truly understand the truth, and to this, I am committed today.”
The gathering ended with another song from Twin Flames that spoke to the mental impact residential schools have had on generations of Indigenous people.
President Claude Brulé gave final remarks, thanking everyone for coming, and saying that while words have the power to heal, “actions speak louder.” As a starting point, he said, Algonquin College had donated 215 items of clothing to the Minwaashin Lodge, an organization that provides a range of programs and services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and children—regardless of status—who are survivors of domestic and other forms of violence, and who may also be suffering the effects of the residential school system.
He also said he would be updating the College community on Algonquin’s efforts to work towards Truth and Reconciliation on National Indigenous Peoples day on June 21.
If you are interested in donating to Minwaashin Lodge, learn more here.
To watch a video of this morning’s Community Gathering: Every Child Matters event, click here.
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