The sun beat down on a crowd of several hundred on Sunday as the dancers' feet matched the sounds of the drumbeat at the Healing Garden, following later at the foot of Seven Hills. For all, it was a day of feeling the earth, holding hands, and moving as one in a circle, one step at a time.
“It's so nice that we are gathering," began Gary Gagnon, the emcee who first greeted the swell of orange-shirt-wearing masses in front of St. Albert Place for the start of the Children are Coming Home Walk (pekîwewak awâsisak ᐯᑮᐍᐘᐠ ᐊᐚᓯᓴᐠ).
He spoke of how much it warmed his heart to see so many in attendance, and how long it had been since there was any such gathering, especially with elders from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities. The joy of togetherness, he explained, had to be met with the somberness of the occasion.
"It looks like a celebration, but it's a little bit more than a celebration. It's a healing today," Gagnon said. "Healing isn't easy but it's necessary."
The event was organized after the discoveries of more than 1,000 unmarked graves of children at several former residential school sites across Canada. There are still more than 100 sites that have not yet been searched, including the St. Albert (or Youville) Indian Residential School and the Edmonton Industrial (Poundmaker) School – two that were formerly located within the city.
After speeches and elders' prayers, the walk left the Douglas Cardinal-designed building, moving across the Children's Bridge before finding itself at the St. Albert Healing Garden – called Kâkesimokamik – for a smudge and traditional songs and dances.
Later, the gathering shifted across Mission Avenue to the green space on Seven Hills where the newly-formed Winds of Change Indigenous Alliance had arranged for a residential school awareness event with presentations from elders and knowledge keepers.
Attendees, many with their families, including young children, looked over an informational display of posters to learn more about the two local schools, and what happened there.
Guest speaker Elder Betty Letendre spoke to the crowd about the importance of education and persistence.
"I've got to say that our work is not going to be done for a long, long time. We've got so many to bring home," she said, her voice occasionally rising with emotion as she spoke of her oppression and that of Indigenous peoples.
She called on the crowd to feel the music to help them understand and better appreciate Indigenous culture.
"When we hear the drum, we know it's the heartbeat of our mothers. What beautiful culture we have ... our way of life."
The healing vibration of that drum and the footsteps all those people joined in a cross-cultural round dance was unlike anything the city had experienced before.
Gagnon earlier commented on how beautiful it was to have so many people come out to offer a moment of their lives. Such a groundswell of life force is vital, he said, for St. Albert to recognize its past and set a new path ahead.
"We need your positive energy. We need that energy to be positive. We need it to continue to go forward," he added. "It took creator's most humble people – the children – to make awareness for us. The elder I talked to yesterday, they said that awareness is that they need prayers. We need to pray them home – not to disturb them, but to pray for them so they can journey home. They weren't afforded, some of them, proper burials. We know that. But as common people and as people of faith, we can afford that for them. Our elders tell us as human beings, we all have a responsibility to say prayers for each other. It's necessary."
NOTE: Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.
