Ruth Ahenakew (right) stands next to a Residential School Survivor speaking at an event in Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

‘It’s hard to forget’: Residential School survivors share stories during event in Ahtahkakoop

Sep 30, 2022 | 8:00 AM

For many in the community of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, the stories of Canada’s Residential Schools are only heard through news and conversations with relatives.

For others, however, they are solid memories, still too painful to remember and etched into their past.

Despite the hardships of the past, some in the First Nation near Canwood took an opportunity to share those stories in the hopes the younger generation will never forget them.

The community held a number of events on Thursday as its way to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The day started with a walk to a nearby cross by local school students, followed by a prayer and an honour song.

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After performances by Indigenous dancers, residential school survivors had a chance to share their stories and hopes for reconciliation in the future. Afterwards, some of the youth in the community shared what the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation means to them.

A young man from Ahtahkakoop shares what the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation means for him. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

Dorothy E. Ruth Ahenakew organized the event and said it meant a lot to her community.

“Cultural genocide is what happened to our First Nations people and a lot of them have a hard time coming back to being themselves and who they are as First Nations people.”

When asked what the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation means for her, she said it means she and other First Nation people can move forward.

“Reconciliation to me, we can’t undo what was done to us, but we can find a new direction and rekindle our language, our culture, our tradition and dancing and attire because we weren’t allowed to do that. They weren’t allowed to love each other,” she said. “There’s a great disconnection in our community but I feel we’re overcoming it, we’re being resilient.”

Someone who knows the pain of the residential school system all too well is Marge, who spent three years at one with her siblings.

When recounting the years at the school, she remembered its strict, regimental system. She never had a name there, only a number H-2166. She mentioned one time, her braid was cut and tossed in a garbage bin, leaving her in tears.

“I’m 75 now and it has taken many, many years to put that life where it needs to belong, in the past, but it’s hard to forget. We will never, ever forget. You just learn to put it in the proper place in your life.”

Sitting next to Marge at the event was Darlene, who attended a day school as a child but whose parents were in the residential school system.

“I have to understand myself, why wasn’t I confident as a woman? Why did I hate school?” she said. “Some of the stories that they told us, it was so horrifying.”

She said the impact of those schools is still being felt by Indigenous people today, adding that issues of alcoholism and mental health struggles are an aftereffect of what residential schools did.

For now, the 70-year-old great-grandmother says she’s trying to put all the pieces together.

“There’s a lot of things that happened and I’m starting to understand it. It took a long time. One of my uncles never came back. He was only nine. I’m trying to put that puzzle (together) and I’m figuring it out.”

Many communities in Saskatchewan and across Canada will host events that will mark the second-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock