‘Lifting Your Spirits’: The Music That Remembered the 215 Missing Children in Kamloops | The Canadian News

Dustin Dion Stikwey Jules wasn’t really planning on acting when he traveled to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on Monday.

The Skeetchestn Indian Band member has been a singer all his life, but said it was an “impromptu” decision to walk up to the microphone at the Powwow Arbor and sing in the Secwepemctsin language.

“Every time we share a moment like this, we take it upon ourselves to share our culture and our beliefs with people because it is something that has been passed down from generation to generation,” he said.

With braided sweet grass and her son’s drum in her hands, she shared a lahal’s song. It is traditionally performed during tournaments, but Jules said he has helped his community in times of need, and could do the same for those attending Le Escwicwéy̓’s year-long memorial.

“It’s about bringing people together, lifting their spirits, giving them that good feeling, that comfort option,” he told Global News.

As he sang, he said he thought of his mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles who survived the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

From the song of honor to the jingle dress dance, music and movement played a central role in the ceremony honoring the 215 missing children, whose remains are believed to be buried in the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The event included many speeches and prayers, but at the end of the day, Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir gave a special greeting to the drummers, dancers, and singers.

“I can’t say enough about how significant it was that we had so many of our cultural singers and dancers today. That was our resilience,” he told the crowd, standing next to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Let us be proud of who we are. We need our children to be proud of who we are.”

Careful thought went into choosing the songs performed at the Le Escwicwéy̓ memorial, several singers told Global News. According to Iye’mitun Slahhwwaletze Sewedit, a visiting cultural support worker from Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island, it’s all based on the type of occasion.

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She chose her grandmother’s Prayer Song, written by her great-uncle about her calls for everyone in the Cowichan Valley to join her in prayer.

“I sang it in gatherings like this here because we are coming together to be one… coming together as one heart, one mind, one spirit,” Sewedit said outside Powwow Arbor.

“I had a hard time not breaking down and crying because I get emotional easily. It felt good to sing that, especially for everyone here at the residential school because I know what they’ve been through.”

The 10-hour event included both spontaneous song and dance and planned performances in at least half a dozen indigenous languages, including Secwepemctsin, Cree, Hul’q’umin’um, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh.

The Redrum Motorcycle Club, which includes survivors and intergenerational survivors from residential schools, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for Le Escwicwéy̓, whose lives were cut short. The Paul Creek singers and dancers led the crowd in the song of celebration and friendship.

“The celebration dance is performed in honor of life and in honor of those who pass into the spirit world,” explained Elder Charlotte Manuel, thanking her elders for passing on their knowledge.

The dancers moved together in a circle with their hands open towards the sky. Manuel, a survivor of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, danced happily from her seat.

After dancing, Lil’wat Nation’s Jackie Andrew said she feels “grounded and uplifted.” A dancing bear from St’át’imc and a twin, she told Global News that she brought the “very sacred” spirit animal to the monument at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.

“This is what we call ancestral work. We are here to serve our ancestors well, because we would not be here today if they did not survive and pass on their oral traditions,” she explained, wearing her grizzly garb.

“This is the medicine that heals us, that helps us prosper as a people.”

Jackie said she attended the funeral with her family and danced to support survivors, including her parents and grandparents, who attended Kamloops Indian Residential School and St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in Mission, BC.

“It’s about intent. If she means well, his prayers will be answered,” she said.