The town of Sackville and Mount Allison University have joined dozens of other entities across the country in lowering their flags to half-mast, and keeping them lowered for 215 hours, or about nine days, in recognition of the tragic news that the remains of 215 children were found on site of a former Indian Residential School in Kamloops, BC.
Some Sackville residents are planning a more personal memorial, and have taken on a mission to collect 215 pairs of children’s shoes to be displayed at town hall. The shoes memorial is similar to others that have been undertaken across the country in the wake of the discovery at Kamloops. Donations of shoes can be dropped off by 2pm Tuesday at 17 Wellington Street in Sackville. Organizers says shoes will be donated for reuse after the memorial is taken down.
Indian residential schools operated in Canada between the 1870s and the 1990s. The last Indian residential school closed in 1996. It is estimated that over 150,000 Indian, Inuit, and Métis children, between the ages of 4 and 16, attended Indian residential schools.
Premier Blaine Higgs tweeted Monday morning to say that flags at the provincial legislature in Fredericton and all other provincial buildings would be lowered to half-mast. Higgs wrote: “We grieve with the First Nations over the tragic loss of these young lives.”
The government did not publish an official statement.
The Higgs government has had a strained relationship with New Brunswick’s First Nations recently, after suddenly ending tax agreements designed to keep provincial sales tax revenues earned in First Nations in those communities. And in December, Fort Folly Chief Rebecca Knockwood and colleagues withdrew their participation from the All Parties Working Group on Reconciliation after the government referenced the work of the group when explaining why they would not pursue a formal inquiry into systemic racism in New Brunswick.
While New Brunswick did not have any residential schools, this province did have 12 day schools, all operated by the Roman Catholic Church and located on or near First Nations reserves. Similar to residential schools, Indigenous people were forced to attend day schools.
Paryse Suddith is a New Brunswick lawyer providing assistance to class action claimants regarding day schools. In early 2020 Suddith told CBC, “the education system was mandatory, colonial, religious, paternalistic and discriminatory.”
The last New Brunswick day school to close was in Metepenagiag, on July 31, 1992.
The only residential school in the Maritimes was in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, and is now the subject of investigations by the Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum and led by Mi’kmaq elders. The work involves the use of ground-penetrating radar, non-invasive technology similar to that used in Kamloops. So far, no graves or human remains have been found at the site. The Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative says they will continue searching, and will ensure the site is fully investigated.
If you’re struggling with this story or other recent news about Kamloops, please note there is a National Indian Residential School Crisis line available 24/7 at this number: 1-866-925-4419.