General News and Announcements

July 29, 2010

Aboriginal and Métis students of a residential school were honoured by more than 400 people in a gathering last month. The participants at the “Remembering the Children” ceremony on June 30 gathered at Fort Normandeau Interpretive Centre, Alberta, and heard the names, read aloud, of over 325 students who had attended the Red Deer Indian Industrial School between 1893 and 1919. 

A 2009 visit to the unmarked cemetery near the former residential school created the impetus to plan “Remembering the Children.” Photo by Linda Ervin

This opening to the gathering was followed by a feast to feed and free the spirits of the children who had died at the school. The feast included a pipe ceremony in the Cree tradition.

Remembering the Children was a sacred ceremony, nearly a year in the planning. In September 2009, some 30 descendants of students at the Red Deer Indian Industrial School and a few United Church members had visited the unmarked cemetery associated with the school. The solemn gathering had offered prayers in memory of a largely unknown number of school children and community members who are buried there; they were determined, from that time forward, that a memorial feast would take place.

The plan was aided by the earlier work of Sunnybrook United Church, whose members, in an effort to build better relations with Aboriginal peoples in the Red Deer area, had started research into the cemetery and school in 2005. Key among the researchers were Lyle Keewatin-Richards, who knew relatives of student David Lightning who had died during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, and Don Hepburn, who had been vice-principal at a residential school in Inuvik for two years. They were joined by Cecile Fausak, General Council Liaison Minister: Residential Schools, and Paul DuVal, Alberta and Northwest Conference Central Region Resource Personnel. Visits were made to all the First Nations and the Métis Nation of Alberta to share the information collected, including copies of a student register, photos, an archaeological assessment, and letters. 

Equipped with this research, a working group made up of people from the Four Bands of Hobbema, Paul First Nation, Stoney Nakoda First Nations, Saddle Lake Cree First Nation, Whitefish First Nation (Goodfish), the Métis Nation of Alberta, and The United Church of Canada met monthly to plan the “Remembering the Children” ceremony. The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House, Manitoba) was also consulted. These were the homes that the children had come from—travelling hundreds of miles from the Methodist missions to the school.

Commission Chairperson Murray Sinclair said, “The Commission is committed to learning the truth about those children who died or disappeared.” Photo by Neil Hepburn

Commissioner Littlechild related an incident of setting the spirits free while visiting a Jewish concentration camp in Germany, the Holocaust having some parallels to the residential school system. Photo by Neil Hepburn

Commissioner Wilson commended the United Church for taking a lead role in this healing work. Photo by Neil Hepburn

“Remembering the Children” was attended by sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews of these former students. People like Marilyn Makokis, Eric Large, Linda Makokis, Lorne Greene, Adeline Harvey Samson, Rick Lightning, Muriel Stanley Venne, Rock Abraham, Bernadette Koluk, Dennis Paul, Clifford Powderface, and Paul Bonner (most of them members of the working group) came to honour their ancestors.

The three Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners were present as well as 15 United Church ministers, Moderator Mardi Tindal, Red Deer City Mayor Morris Flewwelling, and many citizens from throughout Alberta.

Truth was spoken, tears shed, memories healed, understanding emerged, spirits set free, laughter rippled, steps in reconciliation taken, gratitude expressed, and the Red Deer River flowed onward. See the Moderator’s blog for more information.

Media representatives gathered stories, including an interview with the Rev. Nelson Hart, who had travelled with three others from Nelson House, Manitoba, to honour three of his aunties, one of whom is known to be buried in the school cemetery. For more information and to watch the service, please visit CBC News.