Editorial Yorkton This Week Finding the right words when writing an editorial is something newspapers are tasked with on a weekly basis, but sometimes it is simply impossible to find the right words to fit the situation. The news breaking last week that the remains of 215 children buried on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on the Tk emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia had been discovered is such a situation. article continues below Obviously there is a great sadness that came with the announcement that 215 children taken from their parents to schools’ intent on stripping their youth of their First Nations identities, language, long hair, culture, parents all systematically stripped – would die and simply be buried on the school grounds and forgotten.
NDP MLA and former residential school survivor sadden by the discovery of 215 children remains at a residential school in Kamloops mbcradio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mbcradio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In their May 30 statement, the FSIN specifically mentioned four residential schools by name in a media statement - including the Sturgeon Landing Residential School, located about 55 kilometres due south of Flin Flon. “We’ve all heard the stories and atrocities that were part of the residential school experience. Some of us are survivors and have lived to tell our stories. However, there are many that did not make it home in Saskatchewan,” reads the FSIN statement. The FSIN specifically mentioned the Sturgeon Landing school and the Muskowekwan, Onion Lake St. Anthony’s and Beauval schools as “potential sites of mass graves.”
FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron. (file photo/650 CKOM)
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is leading a new investigation into unidentified remains of children at Saskatchewan’s residential schools.
The announcement was made in a Sunday afternoon press release and comes on the heels of a tragic, and major finding at a Kamloops-area residential school late last week. There, the remains of 215 residential school students were found during a similar search.
“The whole world is watching,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron in the Sunday release. “We are consulting with ground penetrating radar experts to find our lost children. However difficult this path will be, we must speak our truth and reclaim our ancestors. We ask all families to come forward with their stories.”