Last month’s discovery of 215 children buried in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indigenous Residential School shocked many Canadians.
Celina Loyer was not one of them. Like many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Canadians, she had heard many accounts from elders over the years about how the federal government took at least 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and put them in residential schools, where they would be stripped of their language, culture, dignity, and, in at least 4,100 cases, lives.
“None of this was news to me when it came out,” said Loyer, aboriginal programmer with the Musée Héritage Museum in St. Albert — nor was it news to any other Indigenous person she knew.
“It was simply confirmation of something we have been telling people for decades.”
Today, June 21, is the 25th annual National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. While normally a time to celebrate Indigenous culture with song and dance, the Kamloops discovery and the COVID-19 pandemic have put Canada’s legacy of residential schools, and the need to reconcile with that past, front and centre.
So, where to begin?
Listen and learn
“The number one thing adult people can do right now is listen,” Loyer said — listen to what Canada’s Indigenous community has been saying for years, and learn the truth about it.
The first job of non-Indigenous Canadians is to get educated, Morin said. That can mean reading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reports, Bob Joseph’s 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, or Jean Teillet's The North-West is Our Mother, or watching any of the CBC’s many Indigenous documentaries.
Heather Friedenthal said her students at Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary have been learning about residential schools in age-appropriate ways with the help of Indigenous elders and Asiniwaciy the Bear, the school’s official Indigenous education mascot.
“The kids know what is right and wrong,” she said, and are often shocked to hear that Canada intentionally tried to annihilate Indigenous culture through the residential schools.
Friedenthal said kindergarten students might hear about how students at the schools were taken from their parents and forgot their traditional languages when they returned, while Grade 2 students might learn about how students would sometimes die at school. Later grades would talk about the burials in unmarked graves. These lessons were paired in recent weeks with symbolic actions, such as colouring 215 paper shoes, and planting hearts at the St. Albert Healing Garden while hearing a talk from Loyer.
“They’re all learning the truth,” Friedenthal said.
“That's really the only way reconciliation is going to move forward.”
Friedenthal said teaching students about incidents such as the Kamloops discovery helps them to recognize racism and learn empathy.
Next comes the acknowledgement that residential schools are the result of systemic racism that is still present today. Sharon Morin of Michif Cultural Connections noted that news of the Kamloops discovery came just days before the federal government released its national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous women and in parallel with the Joyce Echaquan inquest (which is examining the death of an Indigenous woman who filmed herself being insulted and mocked by staff as she was dying in a Quebec hospital).
“There’s a whole way of thinking that needs to shift,” Morin said.
Effective action
Loyer and Morin said effective acts of reconciliation have to be led by Indigenous people and supported by other Canadians — “nothing about us without us” was how Morin put it. Before you go and take down all your Vital-Justin Grandin statues and street-signs, in other words, talk with local and Alexander First Nation residents to see if that’s what they want done.
St. Albert schools and public buildings lowered their flags for 215 hours following the Kamloops discovery. Mayor Cathy Heron also plans to organize a walk to the Healing Garden at a later date.
Loyer and Morin encouraged residents to step beyond these symbolic acts and step up as allies. Start by asking the Indigenous people around you how you can help, and by calling out racist acts and language when you see them. At the government level, take meaningful, concrete measures to support Indigenous peoples, such as regular meetings with local First Nations governments and having an Indigenous resource officer on staff.
Bruce Gladue, president of the St. Albert/Sturgeon County branch of the Métis Nation of Alberta, said being an ally can be as simple as not reacting with fear when a visibly Indigenous person such as himself passes you on a trail.
“I would just be thrilled if someone said, ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ ” instead, he said.
Many people want a quick fix in the wake of the Kamloops discovery, but reconciliation isn’t quick, Loyer said. She said the Kamloops discovery has provided incontrovertible proof of a true aspect of residential schools, and could give Canadians the emotional push needed to accept it as fact.
“This is a moment for the rest of Canada, the rest of Alberta, the rest of St. Albert, to embrace that truth.”
National Indigenous Peoples Day Activities
In-person National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in St. Albert have been cancelled this year due to the pandemic, said city officials. St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron will raise the Treaty 6 and Métis flags at St. Albert Place in the days around June 21, and read a proclamation in council chambers June 21.
Residents took in some First Nations drumming and Métis jigging at the online Edmonton Indigenous Peoples Festival which happened June 19. Those still looking to participate in something can catch the Alberta Métis Fest on June 26.
Those interested in learning more about residential schools can check out the St. Albert Public Library’s Reconciling Canada’s Residential School System reading list or the University of Alberta’s free online course on Indigenous Canada (available through Coursea). For a longer read, see the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reports at nctr.ca.
Know your history
The Kamloops discovery brought new scrutiny to St. Albert place-names, many of which are linked to residential school advocate Vital-Justin Grandin. But did you know that many St. Albert place-names have Indigenous roots?
Bellerose Drive and Bellerose Composite are named for Octave Bellerose, for example, a Métis man who founded Bellerose School No. 6 in 1886 and served with Sam Cunningham (see below) in the St. Albert Mounted Rifles.
Poundmaker Road and Poundmaker’s Lodge take their name from Chief Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), a renowned First Nations leader who signed Treaty 6 and worked tirelessly to ensure the survival of his people.
Cunningham Road is named after the Cunninghams, a Métis family that made many contributions to St. Albert. One notable member was Samuel Cunningham, who helped build St. Albert Trail, led St. Albert’s first militia group, served four years on the North West Territories Council, and became the first mayor of Grouard.
See A History of Street Names in St. Albert (available at stalbert.ca/exp/heritage/naming) for more details on place names in St. Albert.
