LAC LA BICHE - On the morning of Sept. 30, under crisp though bright and sunny skies over Lac La Biche, roughly 100 people walked in honour of residential school survivors and those who never came home.
The Lac La Biche Mission was one of 26 residential schools in Alberta, part of more than 130 that operated across Canada from the late 1800s into the mid 1990s.
The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation walk which was hosted by Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, followed a sunrise ceremony that was held at Portage College earlier in the morning.
The procession took over two blocks of the Lac La Biche Main Street, leading to the McArthur Place civic building, where speeches, a community lunch, and live musical entertainment took place.
Stan Delorme, the chairman of the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement council, spoke at the event.
Delorme said that events for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are important as they commemorate and honour the victims and survivors who endured Canada’s residential school system.
“I think it’s an honour to those kids that didn’t come home you know obviously for reasons we don’t really understand, but we know that they weren’t good,” he told Lakeland This Week.
When asked if National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events are bringing more awareness to the Canadian public about this dark chapter in the country’s history, and also the path forward to reconciliation, Delorme said it is a work in progress.
Truth and Reconciliation, he explained, is starting to catch more attention nationally, and is also finding its way into the mainstream public.
“When we talk truth and reconciliation, those are not just fancy words that we’re talking. We’re talking about lives, we’re talking about societies, you know, and people that don’t really understand one another’s traditional values and cultural values for that matter,” he said. “It brings folks together to realize that there’s more to this than meets the eye.”
Orange wave
Many of those who participated in the walk wore orange clothing and carried small Every Child Matters flags. Lexis Roy and Danielle Patenaude carried a large banner bearing that slogan. Every Child Matters is a book written by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor who is also the founder of Orange Shirt Day, another name for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Roy, who is of Métis heritage, said events like the walk are important because they bring people together and allow them to understand the “hard truth” about what went on in residential schools, and the lasting legacy.
“It never stopped…it’s still happening,” she said. “It’s just a good thing to be made aware of for everybody.”
Lac La Biche County Deputy Mayor John Mondal took part in the walk. He said the awareness from events in communities across the county will better educate people about what happened in the past and what reconciliation will look like going forward.
“Learning is the first step of reconciliation,” he said.
The Lac La Biche Mission operated as a residential school from 1893 to 1898. Students attending the school were transferred to a school in Saddle Lake that would eventually be relocated to the Blue Quills residential school in the St. Paul area. That school operated until 1990.