By Bryan Eneas

Residential school survivors make the walk back home

Jun 27, 2016 | 12:00 PM

A group of residential school survivors can finally begin the healing process and reflect on a journey which took them by foot from Prince Albert to Stanley Mission.

Roughly 60 people ended the symbolic walk on Sunday surrounded by friends both new and old, and their families. Capped off with music, a feast, and a Chinese lanterns, the long journey was designed to help survivors cope in a healthy way with what they experienced in residential schools.

“It’s a brave thing to be done,” Percy Hunt said of the walk. “I think it has started the healing process… For some, it has balanced them, for others it has sort of put them in neutral now.”

Hunt was a residential school survivor from the Timber Bay School. He joined the walkers in Montreal Lake, and was inspired to continue the journey with them.

Hunt also saw educational value in the walk adding he will use his experiences to teach youth about residential schools.

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Walk organizer, Sallie McLeod, has vivid memories of her time in school, particularly leaving home at the tender age of six.

“Our parents used to line up along (the shoreline) and watch us be loaded into the twin otter plane that took us to La Ronge,” McLeod said.

McLeod spent nine years in the Prince Albert Residential School. It was through the school where she met fellow organizer Nancy Mirasty. Together, the pair came up with the concept of the walk.

According to McLeod, this is the first walk of its kind where survivors leave the school grounds which directly impacted them and end in Stanley Mission where they were taken from their families.

Seven walkers completed the five-day journey, but many more, including toddlers and elders, joined the orange t-shirt clad group as they paced along the gravel highway into Stanley Mission.  

For Hunt, the experience was a personal one. One which started his road to recovery.

“(It’s) a healing journey. I’ve still got a lot of healing to do. It’s been a good experience for me,” he said.

The Prince Albert Indian Residential School finally closed its doors in 1996 after nearly 50 years.

Bryan.Eneas@Jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas