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Rows of children’s shoes lined the steps of Assumption Church on Monday, a moving memorial to the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were found buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia on Thursday.
The dozens and dozens of small shoes were among many memorials like it across Canada, inspired by an artist in Vancouver who collected 215 pairs, one for each child who died, and placed them on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
About 75 people attended the memorial here at Assumption at 2:15 p.m., for 215 seconds, signifying the number of children taken from their families who never returned.
“It completely just broke me,” said Ashlie Sandy, an Indigenous woman who laid a pair of her son’s shoes with the others. “My spirits are feeling all types of emotions — hurt, anger. It’s just crazy.”
From the Peace Tower in Ottawa to government buildings across Canada, Ontario and Windsor and Essex County, flags were lowered to half-mast to mark the horrific discovery and remember the thousands of Indigenous children who died at residential schools, the survivors and their families.
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Flags on federal government buildings will remain lowered until further notice. The chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations in Ontario has also asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an open letter to declare a national day of mourning “for these children and the many others!”
Premier Doug Ford ordered provincial flags to be flown at half-mast for 215 hours, in accordance with a request Monday by MPP Sol Mamakwa of Kiiwetinoong riding in northern Ontario, a member of the Kingfisher First Nation whose first language is Oji-Cree.
Flags in Windsor, including the one on the riverfront, will also fly at half-mast for 215 hours “as we mourn, reflect, and pay tribute to the profound loss of these children,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said in a Facebook post.
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“This tragedy is a reminder of a terrible time in Canada’s history where Indigenous peoples were denied basic human rights and became victims of harsh punishment and abuse,” he wrote.
“The City of Windsor sits on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy: Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa. Today, and every day, we must continue to be grateful and to nurture and respect our relationship with Indigenous peoples in the places we continue to call ‘home’. My heart goes out to the victims and families impacted by this devastating news.”
Said Tecumseh Mayor and Essex County Warden Gary McNamara, “There are no words to capture the devastating loss to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation community and all First Nation Peoples across Canada.”
McNamara reminded the community that the federal government has set up a National Indian Residential School Crisis Line to provide support to former residential school students and those affected. The 24-hour line provides emotional and crisis referral services. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
The school in Kamloops, one of the more than 100 residential schools for Indigenous children, opened in 1890 and was operated by the Catholic Church and later the federal government. It closed in 1978.
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Many Indigenous children suffered neglect and physical, mental and sexual abuse in residential schools. More than 3,000 children died.
It’s believed that students are buried near other schools, too.
The landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which released its report six years ago, called the residential school system part the government’s policy of “cultural genocide.”
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially apologized in 2008 for the treatment of Indigenous children in the schools. The Catholic Church has never apologized.
ajarvis@postmedia.com
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