On May 27, 2021, the remains of 215 Indigenous children were detected, children who had been buried on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.
TRC Bobcaygeon mourns these children and the possibly many thousand more who never came home. We express our support for residential school survivors, their families, and all First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who are grieving and mourning.
Residential schools were part of a colonial policy to eradicate Indigenous cultures, languages and communities. Even though the last school closed in 1996, intergenerational trauma, ongoing harms and discriminatory practices continue.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, national investigations, the United Nations, and several other international human rights bodies have repeatedly called on Canada to address these human rights violations and ensure justice for survivors and their families. The bulk of these recommendations remain unimplemented. Canada must act on these recommendations now.
Canada must act on the following in particular: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ 231 Calls for Justice. In our view, Canada must also, immediately implement the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s decision on providing equal funding for child and family services in First Nations communities.
Since May 27, governments, non-governmental organizations and community organizations have taken action – from lowering flags to half mast in honour of the 215 children, to people wearing orange shirts to proclaim that “Every Child Matters” – and many more actions and art installations across country. Calls for other schools to be investigated, for burial sites to be located and protected (if in fact, that is what Indigenous communities want to happen) have come from various organizations. Calls for those responsible to be held accountable for these atrocities and human rights violations have come from many places too. The most common call has been for the Canadian government and other institutions and governments to act on the numerous calls to action documented in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report.
Here, in the City of Kawartha Lakes, the Truth and Reconciliation Community – Bobcaygeon has decided to commemorate the lives of the 215 children and we would like to do so in the following way:
1. We are in the process of painting 215 river rocks with orange paint in the spirit of the “Every Child Matters” orange t-shirt campaign;
2. On each of theses stones, we are inviting community members to paint hearts of various colours and then each heart will contain a number from 1 to 215;
3. We are also in the process of painting messages on two larger rocks; one will have an explanation of what the 215 river rocks represents and the other will have the number of the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) in case the memorial triggers painful memories for members of First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities.
4. This memorial installation with these rocks will be set in the heart of the Bobcaygeon community just outside the Bobcaygeon Library and Boyd Museum for a month starting on June 16th. We are exploring possible locations for another installation at a different location for August.
As well as building important relationships in our own community as we go about the work of the TRC Bobcaygeon, we also try to build respectful relationships with local First Nations, in particular, Curve Lake First Nation because of its close proximity to the Bobcaygeon community and the historic connections with this area of the Kawarthas.