Statue honouring residential school founder removed from Sask. cemetery
The statue of a Roman Catholic priest who founded one of the first residential schools has been removed from the Saskatchewan cemetery where it stood.
The statue of Father Hugonard, who founded the Lebret Indian Industrial Residential School in 1884, was built in 1926 and stood near the entrance of the school until the late 1990s, when it was moved to the Sacred Heath Catholic cemetery.
A statue of a Roman Catholic priest who founded the Lebret Indian Industrial Residential School currently stands in the Sacred Heart Catholic cemetery. (Source: Star Andreas)
Star Andreas camped at the site in protest for four days ahead of the statue’s removal
“I did not want to leave the camp because the children still need to be found,” said Andreas.
Archbishop of Regina Donald Bolen said the Archdiocese of Regina didn’t run into any opposition when it came to removing the statue.
“In the current climate and all the tensions of the present moment, this was a request that pretty straightforward and seemed to be a completely good request,” said Bolen.
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and the Star Blanket Cree Nation had called on the Archdiocese of Regina to remove the statue.
“The statue must go. It is not appealing. It brings out emotions of pain, suffering, and angers out relatives that went through the residential school era,” Star Blanket Cree Nation Chief Michael Starr said in a June 11 press release.
On June 14, the Archdiocese of Regina confirmed it would remove the statue after consultation with the chief and council of Star Blanket First Nation, the local parish, council and mayor of Lebret.
The statue is now bring stored in the church, Bolen said there will be discussions on what to do with it permanently.
Andreas said the statue’s removal is a small victory, but there’s still work to be done.
“There’s so many children out there, we got to find them, we got to bring them home, we got to do ceremonies,” she said. “We got to heal.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.