Children at All Saints Indian Residential School in Lac La Ronge in 1945. (Library Archives of Canada)

By Alison Sandstrom

TRC recommendation

Monument honouring residential school survivors to be built in Regina

Jan 27, 2021 | 4:34 PM

The government of Saskatchewan has announced plans to build a permanent monument to honour residential school survivors at Government House in Regina.

The monument is in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action No. 82, which recommends installing a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools Monument in each capital city to honour survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities, the government said in a media release.

“The monument will be part of the healing journey,” Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty said. “And I look forward to continuing my ongoing conversations with Elders and Knowledge Keepers as we work together to develop this meaningful and lasting tribute.”

Acknowledgement and truth-telling

Janet Carriere, executive director of the Prince Albert Indian Metis Friendship Centre, told paNOW the construction of the monument is “a really good step in the right direction” and she’s pleased it’s being spearheaded by Mirasty.

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“I think for many years the Indigenous people of Saskatchewan have felt that they didn’t really matter to our government and this is telling them that they do, that the things that they went through are being acknowledged,” Carriere said. “There may not be a lot of work towards correcting it, but just acknowledging it is such a big, big step.”

Around 20 federal residential schools operated in Saskatchewan from the 1880s to the 1990s.

Nationally, Canada removed some 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and communities to attend the institutions, the federal government reports.

Referencing the TRC, Carriere said telling the truth about the schools and the harm that they caused is essential for healing.

“In order for us to have reconciliation we have to say ‘yes we did a horrible job in this country, we did some horrible, horrible things to a group of people and we acknowledge that, and we’re not going to operate that way moving forward,'” she said. “But if we don’t acknowledge what was done, then we can’t move forward and do it better moving down the road.”

Mirasty will continue to speak with residential school survivors, their families and Indigenous Elders throughout the winter, the government said in the release. Monument construction details will be released following the discussion process.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom