You’ll find below more photos and an article by Tilly Meyer, St. Andrew’s United, Lacombe, AB:

Also, an article by FRANK MCTIGHE, FORT MACLEOD GAZETTE EDITOR, Directly below

Trinity United Church in Fort Macleod has created a way for area residents to pay tribute to residential school survivors and the 215 children whose unmarked graves were discovered in Kamloops, B.C.
Rev. MiYeon Kim during the June 6 service invited people to take a moment for reflection, then tie one of the provided orange ribbons on the railing outside of the church.
“Anyone who lives in Fort Macleod, and anyone who is mourning this tragic news, are invited to come anytime and any day for silent reflection and to tie ribbons to honour the victims and survivors,” Rev. Kim explained.
The unmarked graves were discovered on the site of a former Indian residential school at Kamloops, B.C.
Rev. Kim said although the discovery took place in British Columbia, it has significance for all Canadians.
“This week we were confronted by our own history of the United Church of operating residential schools,” Rev. Kim said.
Rev. Kim encouraged people to consider their relationships with Indigenous people.
The discovery of the children’s graves has caused pain for Indigenous people who attended residential schools and whose parents and grandparents were students.
Rev. Kim said that while she was mourning the horrific news she discovered that some church members were not aware of the United Church’s history of involvement in the Indian residential school system.
Rev. Kim took time during the service to talk about the United Church’s history with Indigenous people.
“This story may disturb our hearts, but it’s time we should hear it again,” Rev. Kim said.
Between 1849 and 1969 the United Church ran 15 residential schools as part of the federal system that removed Indigenous children from their families.
The plan was to remove the children from their communities and traditional way of live in order to assimilate them into mainstream society.
One hundred and 50 thousand children were sent to the schools.
Rev. Kim said about 80,000 of those children, including 5,000 who attended United Church schools, are alive today.
“In addition to the tremendous damage done by the stated purpose of the schools, many students suffered physical and sexual abuse,” Rev. Kim said. “Many students recalled being beaten for speaking their native language.”
The residential school students lost touch with their parents and traditional ways.
“This story was largely hidden or ignored until 1990 when former students began to come forward with court cases,” Rev. Kim added.
One case brought by Willie Black Water “laid bare” the United Church of Canada’s role.
The United Church was the first of the church partners in the Canadian Indian Residential School System to acknowledge the wrong in being involved, and in 1986 issued a formal apology.
The church received a response that it would be expected to “walk a more faithful path,” Rev. Kim said.
The Indigenous elders of the church said the apology must not be a symbolic act, but rather words of action and sincerity.
In 1998 the United Church moderator apologized for the pain and suffering caused by the church’s involvement in the Indian residential school system.
The United Church eventually entered into the residential school settlement agreement.
In 2012 the United Church revised its crest to reflect the presence and spirituality of Indigenous people in the church.
A memorial is set up outside Trinity United Church, with orange ribbons provided for the public.

By Tilly Meyer from the committee “Living into Right Relations”, St. Andrew’s United Church, Lacombe

Little shoes graced the steps at St. Andrew’s United Church, Lacombe for 215 hours beginning on May, 31st 2021. The shoes and stuffed toys were placed by the local Church members and the Lacombe community in remembrance and in tribute of the recent discovery of 215 children remains that were found at the Kamloops Residential School. We wanted to share our empathy with all Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people from across the country who have, and still do, suffer from mistreatments. The Residential School survivors have had their wounds reopened and we from St. Andrew’s United Church in Lacombe, in reconciliation, wanted to pay tribute and show we care.
Even though placing of symbolic shoes is but a small dot of recognition, it was met with appreciation. While I was standing at the Church steps, a First Nations and a Metis school survivor from Manitoba were present. They wept as they looked at the little shoes. Another community lady that I did not know came by just to say a prayer. As the days went by more and more shoes and stuffed teddy bears appeared; candles and other items that were placed reflected the grief of those coming to the steps.
The little shoe memorial stayed on the Church steps for 215 hours, ending with the Church Bells ringing 215 times on Wednesday, June 9th 7:00 pm. Commemorating the loss of these children and all those who suffered from the Residential School system, each ring represented a child; this begins a process of healing.
With prayer, in solitude, we will remember these children.

The post Remembering the 215 Children and Others appeared first on Chinook Winds Region.

For years I have prayed for the children, hoping that some mystery of the universe would carry my love back in time and they might feel less alone as they faced their tormentors or drew their last breath.

I have hoped that the Holy One would comfort them – and agonized that the Mystery to whom I have appealed is the one whose name was invoked in order to perpetrate such evil. 

I still pray for the children. 

A few years ago, on a visit home to Whitehorse, my spouse, daughter and I spent a sparkling Yukon summer day in the archives. There, we found photographs of groups of children at the Chooutla school in Carcross. I had heard of the Carcross residential school as the one that my father had attended. 

He rarely spoke of it. I remember something about the boys chopping wood and the girls baking and sewing in the mornings, and then having classes in the afternoons. But it was never discussed at our house. 

The Chooutla school is described in documents from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation as having one of the most violent principals. He, apparently, had to have the boys held down, so brutal were his strappings. 

A photograph from the school shows a group of boys. There is one lad who looks a little like my brother. Something about how he squints into the sun. The dates are right – could that be my father? We have no childhood photographs, so we don’t know. 

There are more, you know. 

There are children buried all over our country, some accounted for, but many, many hastily interred with no recognition, no admitting of guilt, no notice to next of kin. No notice of common humanity. No respect for their little bodies – not enough to call hospitals or doctors, so not enough for recognition. 

And alongside these silent burials are the broken childhoods of so many more. Many are among us, newly traumatized by the “revelations” that they’ve known for years. Many, like my father, have gone to their graves with unutterable secrets.  

Their spirits are saying, “You have heard the truth.” 

And so, having heard the truth, what now?  

Continue to listen. Believe it when someone tells you. Reach out and support Indigenous organizations. Seek to understand systemic racism and to break the chokehold it has on our ways of life. Resist rationalizing. Review the apologies. Read the Calls to Action and take action. Shed the tears, yes. Wear the orange shirt, yes. But when the tears have dried, will this have changed you? Changed us? 

The past is now, for all time exists at once. 

And I still pray for the children. 

The post ‘There are more, you know’ appeared first on Chinook Winds Region.