Muskowekwan First Nation recognizes 35 unmarked graves at residential school site
The Muskowekwan First Nation has laid out 35 pairs of children’s moccasins and shoes to honour each unmarked gravesite located at the site of its former residential school.
The First Nation said the shoes will also honour the 215 children whose remains were found at a Kamloops residential school site last week.
The last residential school in Saskatchewan to close its doors, called Muscowequan Indian Residential School, was located on Muskowekwan First Nation. It opened in 1886 and closed in 1997.
A sign that reads "We Support Kamloops" hangs on the front of the Muscowequan Indian Residential School, the last residential school to close its doors in Saskatchewan in 1997. (Stefanie Davis/CTV Regina)
On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered at the school site to pay tribute to residential school attendees and survivors across the country.
Roland Desjarlais attended the Muscowequan Indian Residential School for nine years. He was taken from his family when we was only seven.
“I thought I was only going to come here to visit because I live so close, but I couldn’t go home,” Desjarlais said. “When you’re just a little child, you’re crying day after day after day.”
His family lived just metres away from the school.
“The thing about me being here is that I could see my mother doing laundry outside,” he said. “Being seven or eight years old and not being able to go see her, to go join her – how come I can’t just go home? You absolutely do not understand any part of that.”
He remembers playing sports during his days at the school, which he said he enjoyed. But he also remembers physical abuse when he was caught trying to learn his language from other students.
Desjarlais said his father spoke Cree. He never got to learn much of the language because of his time at the residential school. Now he wishes he could pass it on to his children and grandchildren.
GROUND RADAR FINDINGS
In 2018 and 2019, the First Nation worked with the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta to use ground-penetrating radar to find unmarked or unidentified graves of children who attended the school.
Through that process, along with water line construction done in the 1990’s, the First Nation has identified at least 35 graves. It said there are likely more still waiting to be found.
“Our elders have told us that there’s a lot of areas here that haven’t been explored and eventually we will do that,” Cynthia Desjarlais, a councillor on Muskowekwan First Nation, said at the ceremony on Tuesday.
She said the universities will come back to explore more of the land, but there have been delays due to funding and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and the Saskatchewan government are calling on the federal government to help fund radar ground searches at residential schools in Saskatchewan.
“Then we deal with the findings. Obviously closure and that healing journey would continue for so many families,” FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said.
Cameron said he’s proud of Saskatchewan for being one of the first regions to “hit the ground running” with organizing radar ground searching and to have the support of the premier.
“We met and discussed [on Monday] with three radar ground search companies who are ready to do the work,” Cameron said.
Cameron said he’s hopeful the process could start by next week.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.