Main photo: (From left) Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano, Gary Isaacs, Lorelei Isaacs-Bacon holding Moriah Bacon, Avaleigh Bacon (in front), Rayna Isaacs, Lorelei Isaacs, and Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison with some of the 215 commemorative signs placed in River Mill Park in honour of the Indigenous children whose remains were found in Kamloops. (Dawn Huddlestone)
Warning: This story contains details that readers may find disturbing
On June 25, 215 signs were placed in River Mill Park to commemorate the children whose remains were found in unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops.
It was a powerful symbol, designed to raise awareness and to honour the Indigenous children who died while at the residential school: one only has to imagine a small child standing next to each sign, and remember that none of them returned to the homes they had been taken from, to begin to understand the horror of it. But there is still much more for Canadians to understand, and much more to be done.
“This will be a moment for communities to come together and reflect, raise awareness and learn about residential schools. It is an opportunity to honour the Indigenous children who never made it home to their families. I hope this profound moment is a watershed moment that motivates non-Indigenous Canadians to act and to demand the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action,” said Trisha Cowie, a community advocate who coordinated the initiative with Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison, in a statement earlier this week. The signs have been moved between Muskoka communities each day this week.
Some of the 215 signs that were placed in River Mill Park on June 25, 2021
Members of the Isaacs family, which has been directly impacted by residential schools, chose to be present for several hours at River Mill Park today to answer questions for anyone who stopped by to see the display.
Lorelei Isaacs-Bacon was there with her daughters Avaleigh and Moriah Bacon, her niece Rayna Isaacs, and her parents, Lorelei and Gary Isaacs.
Lorelei Isaacs’ mother, a member of the Six Nations near Brantford, was taken from her home and placed in the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, which operated from 1831 to 1970. She was able to leave after nine years at the age of 16 only because she married—it was one of the few means the children had to be released—but she had no power to later keep her own children from also being taken from their home to a residential school.
“How can you go into somebody’s house and just say, ‘I’ll take you, you, you, and you’?” Lorelei Isaacs said, crying as she recounted some of her family’s story. “Because that’s what they did. They came in and just took three of my sisters all in one day. And they didn’t give them a choice. They just said, we’re taking them.” One of those sisters stayed for 11 years; another was able to sneak out of the school after about four years.
Those experiences have a trickle-down effect, she added. “My mom never learned how to be a mom… Everybody wants to know, well how come you guys aren’t doing so great? Well, you tell me. You steal my mom, you steal my siblings, how do you expect me to be?”
Her daughter, Lorelei Isaacs-Bacon. said she’s thankful that the commemorative signs are moving around the community to bring awareness. “It’s just been in the dark for so long,” she said.
She wants people to be aware of what First Nations people have endured, “but I also want people to know that we are still strong and we are still here and we still have a voice. Along with the hurt and pain, we have a lot of great assets of our culture and to bring that to light as well would be amazing.”
Her niece, Rayna Isaacs, proudly wore regalia to the event, including the sash she received for being named “Miss Mini Six Nations”. She has a sister who is three years old. “The youngest child’s body that was found was three. It just breaks my heart,” she said. “Every child matters.”
Rayna has heard about the “Mush Hole”, the nickname given to the Mohawk Institute because of the bland porridge the children were fed.
“I think it’s good that people are placing signs, spreading awareness, because I do have some friends that don’t know about this,” she said. “I’m happy people are becoming aware.”
One of the signs quotes Justice Murray Sinclair, who served as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada from 2009 to 2015
MP Scott Aitchison said that what’s missing from the national discussion on the issues faced by Indigenous people “is the discussion. Part of the problem that we have is so many Canadians don’t really know what has been done…I think if more people knew, they would understand why reconciliation is so important, why that conversation is so important.”
He and Cowie agreed that the commemorative signs should not be seen as a political or partisan initiative and that they should be moved around Muskoka so that “as many residents and visitors as possible have the chance to reflect and see it and think about what it means.”
At a federal level, Aitchison said that the 94 calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission need to be implemented, “but there are examples where some require some more engagement, some more consultation, listening. and I think it’s important that we all do that as well. Keep the conversation going.”
Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano said that “walking around and reading the messages on these signs, there wouldn’t be anybody that wouldn’t have their heart broken…It really hits home. When they did the Truth and Reconciliation report, we sort of parked it and didn’t do anything about it because it was a government report. [But] this is real. Nobody can come down here and not realize how real it is, and unfortunately it takes the discovery in Kamloops and a second discovery in Saskatchewan for this to hit home…I think we’re going to do something about it now.”
In addition to taking time to learn more, she urged people to be inclusive and accepting of all. “We need more acceptance of everyone,” she said. “We describe ourselves as an inclusive community but I’m not sure we are as inclusive as we think we are. What if every person just took a step back and maybe started to think about, what am I like to the person next to me?”
The unmarked graves found in Kamloops aren’t the only ones that have been discovered at a former residential school. This week, an estimated 751 were found at the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan. There have also been remains discovered at other former residential schools in the past, and First Nations communities have long insisted that there are more undocumented graves.
In a statement yesterday, Stephanie Scott, executive director of the the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, called on the federal and provincial governments, medical institutions, and the Catholic Church to provide access to their relevant records.
“There should never be graveyards at school but we know there are many. This is a reality of the residential school legacy that Canadians have too long overlooked. This horrific truth can no longer be ignored. The least governments and churches must do now is to provide access to the necessary records to identify the locations of all the children and allow communities to honour them with the traditional ceremonies and protocols they were denied,” she wrote.
“While the enormity of the numbers are horrifying, we must remember that even one death of a stolen child left in an unmarked grave without the love of their families, is truly beyond words. To honour the children lost, to acknowledge the legacy of the residential school system and its ongoing impacts, and to take the first significant steps towards reconciliation, Canada must act now with intention.”
The National Residential School Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) is available to provide support to anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience.
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There’s no words to express the awfulness that happened to those wee children, and I wonder why we did not know of this and that it was still going on until 1997?? I thought it was something from the dark ages 100 years ago???
To say we are sorry is not enough. On the TV all the time I see ads to send money to build wells in Africa, etc. and yet none to build wells for fresh pure clean water for our own people here in Canada?? If anyone knows of a place where I can donate money to help speed up this process, please let me know. Oh it is, I am sure the Government’s place to do this but let’s not wait for them – their wheels seem to get bogged down with red tape. I know the Governments are crying the blues with the cost of this pandemic but I see fresh clean water as a greater pandemic. Unfortunately we cannot undo these little children’s deaths and the dreadful sorrow created by them, but we need to do more than say we’re sorry, we need to do something!!
Thank you for this installation to deeply connect us all to the grief and horror of residential schools. Not just the ancient past but a demonstration of Canada’s founding on racism and genocide. Racism and dehumanizing actions continue today. Our hearts are touched by the loss of these hundreds of children. Now we must speak out to end the shameful silence and inaction by our governments and ourselves. Then Canada Day can be truly celebrated by us altogether.
While an obscenity, I wish that all those who are outraged by this piece of history were so actively outraged by the continued structural racism in THEIR Canada today.
While representing just 5% of Canada’s population, indigenous people TODAY represent over 30% of the population of Canada’s prisons.
Sixty First Nation communities have no drinkable water (another 100 just came off the list within the past year after being without drinkable water for more than a decade ).
Under existential threat, suicide rates amongst indigenous people is 3 times that in the rest of Canada.
I may be cynical but I view this display as largely political theatre (after all MP Aitchison voted 3 times just this winter and spring against a Bill to align Canada’s laws with the UN’s Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples…. with out explaining why to his constituents).
I simply hope that this act of symbolism is not just a pathway to returning to a life of wilful ignorance.
I have just read One Drum By Richard Wagamese. It’s a great read and a lot to learn from this beautiful culture almost lost. The unmarked graves so far, unfortunately there will be many more to come. It’s shocking and this must bring us all to come together to help the healing.