Statement by Wapna’kikewi’skwaq – Women of First Light. “As Clan Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunties, and Mothers we are devastated and heartbroken by the news of the 215 beautiful children who were found in BC. Two hundred and fifteen future Clan Mothers, fire keepers, story tellers, leaders, and protectors that were taken brutally from our Nations.”
Editorial cartoonist Matt Dempsey on the horror of residential schools.
What started out as $70 million in reparations for the suffering caused by Catholic residential schools was whittled down to $16 million by the Catholic Church. Michael William McDonald, a lawyer from Sipekne’katik explains how that happened. “Compensation must be sufficient to provide healing,” he writes, “perhaps then we can find the right path to reconciliation.”
Yesterday the federal government announced that the site of the Shubenacadie Residential School has been designated a National Historic Site. “When you come here you can feel the spirits here, and feel the energy,” says Dorene Bernard in a moving short video.
Historian Martha Walls takes a closer look at the establishment of the Shubenacadie Residential School as an effort by the state to deflate Indigenous People’s resistance in the region.
Nova Scotia indie filmmaker Ann Verrall often makes movies and documentaries collaborating with youths , and she’s really good at it. What’s with that Treaty? is a great example. The video was made by students of We’koqma’q Mi’kmaq School in Cape Breton during a 5-day video intensive. Students document Treaty Day activities, Orange Shirt Day, meet with elders Joe Googoo, Magit Poulette, Ben Sylliboy, and Malglit Pelletier, and explore Treaty Education. Students also talk about the impact of residential school on them.
A short video where Doug Knockwood talks about his father’s determination to get him and and his brother Ralph out of Residential School.
A moving story obout a four-year old little girl at the Shubenacadie Residential School and her doll, as remembered by Elder Elder Magit Sylliboy, and filmed by students of the We’koqom’a Mi’kmaw School in Waycobah, Cape Breton. A must see!
A review of two excellent books on the horrific Shubenacadie Residential School, one, by Chris Benjamin, offering a historical overview, and the other, by elder Isabelle Knockwood, providing a moving eye witness account of the institution in all its horror. This isn’t ancient history.