75 Days of Anonymous Tomb Healing Meetings Come to An End in Enoch Area | Globalnews.ca

The truth is painful, and for Lorelei Mullings and Andrea Jenkins, this past year has been filled with a lot of truth. They are mourning the discovery of nameless graves found at former residential school sites across Canada.

“It’s about the truth coming out and people understanding what indigenous peoples have been through – Metis, Inuit and First Nations,” Jenkins said.

“A lot of people don’t want to believe it.”

The couple wanted to be able to cry and honor those lives. When the 751 unmarked graves were found at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, they both knew they had to do something.

“I’m a school teacher, working on my reserve with second graders,” Mullings said. “Thinking of all these nameless graves, and loved babies and children that were found was heartbreaking.”

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Jenkins and Mullings began meeting at the old Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton, where there are also nameless graves, of both children and adults.

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“A lot of times when people died at Charles Camsell, they couldn’t afford to send them back home. But what was so disturbing was that their families were never notified, ”Mullings said.

“Enoch had to take them, the St. Alberta Cemetery, other places in Edmonton…. I would just bury these people without records. “

Mullings said they expected to be there for seven days, ending Canada Day. As people kept showing up to ask questions or share, they realized that people needed this.

For 50 days in a row they held meetings with those who wanted to come.

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“We finished after 7 weeks and suggested going to Enoch’s second grave (near Winterburn Road). We stayed there for 15 days with a teepee. It stood for six days, ”Mullings said.

Jenkins said it was very heavy at first, but that much comfort could be found in being able to cry with other people.

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“(We had) many ceremonies to honor those who passed away, those who were injured while in residential schools, and those who are still around,” Jenkins said.

“I am very happy to know that we were able to bring some kind of healing to some of these people.”

Now the couple are at a third site, known as the Enoch Cree Nation’s first unmarked grave at 7301 199 St. NW.

Each Mullings place has built a ceremonial fire. It is a place for people to come to reflect, share stories, and listen.

“Once I get here, I don’t want to leave. I feel comfortable, ”Mullings said. “The best we can do is keep praying, have that fire and spread awareness because those loved ones had no voice.”

“The Creator sends people to be messengers, and I want to be that messenger, and I do it from the heart.”

They will meet on September 24 from 6 pm to 10 pm and on September 25 and 26 from 1 pm to 6 pm

On September 30, Orange Shirt Day, they will be laying flowers at all three sites, and at 11 am they will be at Enoch’s first unnamed grave for a final gathering.

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“I think it is very important that non-indigenous people take the time to listen, take the time to be respectful to that indigenous person that they see on the street and who is asking for something to eat,” Jenkins said.

“Because they don’t understand where a lot of us come from, what we’ve experienced, sexual abuse, physical abuse, intergenerational trauma, take the time to understand, take the time to try and be kind.”

Your efforts will not stop, switching online to your Facebook group. ‘Free our indigenous children’.

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