Dancers at PAGC

By Dawson Thompson

Remembrance at the PAGC

Ceremony at PAGC for residential school lives lost

May 31, 2021 | 5:00 PM

A special and sombre ceremony took place at the Prince Albert Grand Council Monday afternoon in remembrance of the 215 children whose remains were found last week near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia.

In recognition of the 215 lives lost the ceremony began at 2:15 p.m.

There were many speeches from members of the PAGC and dancing, singing and drumming could be heard throughout.

Dancers at PAGC (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

In a show of support and unity, PAGC held a prayer vigil and flew its flag at half mast to honour and show respect to the children and the surviving family members.

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There were about 100 people in attendance, one of whom was Wendy Mirasty from Prince Albert.

“The importance for me is to recognize the children that were found and to honour them,” Mirasty said.

A plan for the ceremony had been put in place earlier in the day. Everything went as well as it could, said George Mirasty a health support worker for the PAGC and organizer of the ceremony.

“A lot of people came together as soon as they heard about it to honour the children that never went home,” George said. “They also came for their own healing too and to learn more about what happened in these schools.

“Many people who attended residential school never went home. This was to bring an understanding to the people of Canada about what happened.”

An elder for the PAGC, Gordon Keewatin, talked about why the ceremony took place.

“Many of the children never made it home, many parents never knew where they went. They lost them,” Keewatin said. “They never got a proper answer, and this is how they find out.

“It is sad to say but we have to show recognition on what we’re doing here today. We have a lot of survivors that are impacted.”

Gordon Keewatin ( Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

In a statement later Monday, PAGC said, in part, it was supporting the efforts by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) to research undocumented deaths and burials throughout Saskatchewan, and calling on Canada to recognize the abuse of 2,000 students who attended the Timber Bay residential school.

“Our Elders, Senators, Chiefs, community members, and survivors of the Indian Residential School are mourning with the people of Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the children and the community deep in mourning, and we support the Kúkpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir and her council in their efforts to bring out the full truth of what happened to their children and to find healing,” said Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte.

The full statement can be read here.

Also in attendance for the ceremony today was Prince Albert MLA, Alana Ross. At the ceremony she shared a message for everyone in attendance.

“This is a very sad day for us all. We also felt it was important to share the message from our Premier today, as he announced his support for Chief Bobby Cameron, and working with the federal government to take immediate action following this tragic discovery.”

PAGC also supports FSIN’s plan to conduct radar ground searches at residential school sites, including the former schools in Prince Albert, Sturgeon Landing, La Ronge and Timber Bay.

Sign at PAGC (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

Meanwhile a memorial display set up outside P.A. City Hall grew significantly through the day.

Memorial outside P.A. City Hall (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Dawson.thompson@pattisonmedia.com

On twitter: dawsonthompson8