The residents and leadership of hte Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement will be holding a memorial event tnight (June 3) at 7 p.m outside of the community gymnasium to honour the 215 Indigenous children whose remains were found at the former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Last Week, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation Chief, Rosanne Casimir, announced that the remains of 215 children were found near the city of Kamloops on property that once housed the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Some of the remains are believed to be of children as young as three years old.
Residential schools in North America were implemented in the mid to late 1800s to assimilate Indigenous children and remove Indigenous cultures across the continent. The last residential school in Canada — a facility in northern Saskatchewan — was closed in 1996. In 2009, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada asked the federal government to fund projects that would identify burial site locations of children at Canadian residential schools. The amount that was asked was around $1.5 million and it was denied by the government, which was led by Stephen Harper at the time.
Children's shoes
The memorial event at the Buffalo Lake a Métis Settlement will be displaying 215 pairs of children’s shoes by the dreamcatcher at the gymnasium. Attendees will follow a moment of silence, along with some other observances. The organizers of the event ask those who attend to drop off a pair of clean, gently used children’s shoes at the family centre that can be used in the display. Anyone attending is encouraged to wear orange to help support the cause. After the event, the organizers invite any parent or child to take shoes home with them
COVID-measures in place
It is asked that any attendees follow all COVID-19 guidelines at the event, including social distancing and face-covering masks. It is an outside event, with organizers encouraging attendees to bring chairs, as well.
The POST will have more about the event in followup articles.
