Memorial dedicated to survivors of residential schools unveiled at Enoch Cree Nation School

Author of the article:

Kellen Taniguchi

For some, it was exciting when Enoch held a groundbreaking ceremony for his new memorial dedicated to the “survivors” of the residential schools behind the Maskêkosak Kiskinomâtowikamik school west of Edmonton on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. Photo by Ed Kaiser /Postmedia

The handprints of residential school survivors are pressed into the concrete of a new memorial at an Enoch Cree Nation school dedicated to survivors.

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The monument behind the Maskêkosak Kiskinomâtowikamik school was unveiled on Wednesday before the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Thursday.

“What’s so significant about today is that he’s going to be here for a long time,” Enoch’s Cree Nation Chief Billy Morin told the media on Wednesday.

“The pain and hurts of residential schools have been here for a long time, and they still will be, but if you can hear the laughter, if you can hear the children playing, if you can see the beautiful space we have, this is a reflection. of how our community comes together and is going to survive and prosper. “

The monument cemented in the grass is imprinted with the survivors’ hands, painted with the Enoch Cree Nation logo and a medicine wheel. On the ground there is a monument to the bear.

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“There is a bear that represents courage, strength, the protector of her cubs and that is huge for me,” said Walter Callingbull, project leader and elder, who said it has been overwhelming to see the community come together to see the monument. that has been working. for more than a year.

“It has been an honor working on this project. It was a very heavy project for me, both of my parents were in a residential school. So, I grew up in a dysfunctional family, I grew up believing that alcohol abuse was the norm, ”Callingbull said.

After the speeches, Callingbull asked everyone to take a 215 second moment of silence and then asked people to tie one of the 215 orange ribbons to a tree behind the memorial for the 215 children found buried in an old school. residential complex in Kamloops, BC, in May. .

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Morin said the memorial can be used as a teaching tool and the K-12 school is the right place to call it home.

“There could not be a more appropriate place to be in our school because our elders, my mushum and kukums, my grandparents and grandmothers behind me, when they went to school they could not sing, they could not speak the language, they were abused and now our children are the complete opposite of that today, ”Morin said. “It is a space to reflect on that. It is a space for them to come together as old and young. “

Earlier in the week, the school’s art program painted its crosswalk orange with white feathers to represent Every Child Matters. One of the school’s teachers said that art can be used to raise awareness and draw attention to important issues like residential schools.

“The historical and ongoing effects deserve and need more education. More people need to be educated about this. The crosswalk is one way we can do that. In any case, it shows the young Maskêkosak that we are here for them and that they matter, ”art teacher Reanna Savard told Postmedia.