A monument to honour residential school survivors was unveiled in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square on Monday, one of dozens of events in Ontario marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
John Keeshig, who's spirit name is Maya-Waasige, talks to visitors in the Teaching Lodge situated in Nathan Phillips Square, in Toronto, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. The Lodge is designed to reinforce the importance of family, represents life's journey and is a spiritual home for all First Nation People.
Jordan Carrier brought her children and grandchildren to the square on Monday to take part in the ceremony and for them to "learn more about their own identity as First Nations people."Carrier said her grandmother, a residential school survivor, was the last fluent Cree speaker in her family. Her grandmother, she said, feared that her children and grandchildren might be abused like she was for speaking Cree if they, too, learned the language.
Beginning in the 19th century, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and communities and sent to church-run residential schools, where abuse, malnutrition and inadequate health care were rampant. "Our unique Nations and cultures exist today because survivors of the residential school system fought to keep them alive — often in the face of serious personal harm," Abrams wrote in a statement.
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