Remembering the Children ceremony goes June 11 in Red Deer

Open until 1919, the Red Deer Indian Industrial School, which was located near where Fort Normandeau now stands, operated for about 26 years.

It closed due to various reasons, including its distance from the nearest reserve (65 km), as well as an outbreak of smallpox and the Spanish Flu, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR).

The NCTR webpage lists about 75 names of students known to have died at that facility.

In recent years, however, various methods have been used to locate what are believed to be unmarked graves. Most recently, ground-penetrating radar work commenced at the Red Deer site in October 2021.

Dennis Paul, TRC A72-78 (referring to Calls of Action) Research Coordinator with the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, tells rdnewsNOW lab-work related to that ground-penetrating radar remains ongoing.

Lyle Keewatin Richards, Remembering the Children Society chairperson, says each year, the ceremony has nuance.

“For instance, we had to slow our ceremony planning down due to the pandemic. Well, all these people died from the Spanish Flu, so it’s an interesting parallel,” he says. “It’s also important to note that we use the word indian in all our references to the schools because we never want them to forget who they did it to.”

June 11 was chosen, Keewatin Richards notes, because it was on that day in 2008 when then Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his apology for the Indian Residential School System in the House of Commons.

“Believe it or not, this is still very much an ongoing and evolving story,” he adds. “After the Kamloops 215, the awareness was heightened, and people started looking elsewhere. Sure enough, there are unmarked graves in other places.”

All are welcome to attend the ceremony, which takes place at the cemetery’s gravesite C73. There, a marker bearing the names Jane Baptiste, Georgina House, David Lightning and Sarah Soosay — two of whom were 13 and two who were 14 when they each died Nov. 15 and 16, 1918 from Spanish Flu — stands as a reminder of the lives taken far too early.

The ceremony starts at 11 a.m. with a smudge, then prayer, mayoral proclamation and sharing circle. Bring a lawn chair if you’d like to sit.

There will be a potluck to follow at Sunnybrook United Church (12 Stanton Street, Red Deer), starting at approximately 12:30 p.m. Anyone who attends is asked to bring a favourite finger-food to share.

To learn more about Remembering the Children Society, visit their Facebook page.

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by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Remembering the Children ceremony goes June 11 in Red Deer

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