Shoes were placed on the steps of St. Stephens Anglican Church to honour the lives of the 215 children whose remains were discovered last week in Kamloops, B.C. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Residential Schools

Ceremony held at James Smith Cree Nation in honour of residential school lives lost

May 31, 2021 | 5:13 PM

It’s an event that has sent shockwaves across the country.

The discovery of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School site in British Columbia.

On Monday, May 31, a ceremony was held at the James Smith Cree Nation at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church to honour those 215 lives.

“It’s a sad day, not only for us, but for everybody,” said James Smith Chief Wally Burns who was one of three local chiefs to speak at the ceremony.

Elders, as well as reverends, were all in attendance as the lives of those children were honoured, and the bell was rung a number of times at the church to honour those lives.

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Ron Paul is an elder from James Smith and is also a residential school survivor. He spoke at the ceremony as well and told northeastNOW that it was important for him to speak because he also went through the struggles of residential school.

“I know the system, I still remember the system,” Paul said. “It still bothers me to this day sometimes.”

He compared it to smelling something and it unlocking some sort of memory in your mind.

Paul added that hearing of the discovery of those bodies in B.C., he continues to wonder how many more children this happened to. He said that when he was in residential schools, they had heard of children running away.

“A lot of them tried to run away, a lot of them were found,” he said. “But, some of them never came back, we don’t know what happened to them.”

There were also prayers from the elders and reverends, and shoes were set up on the steps of the church in honour of those 215 lives.

Elders at the ceremony gather for a prayer. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

Burns said that we must continue learning about the residential school system and what happened there.

“The education part of it has to be known,” he said. “History has to keep going. We can’t dwell on the past, but we can make all efforts to make sure our kids are educated in that area.”

A Cree hymn was also sung to finish the ceremony before the bell was rung once more.

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mat.barrett@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @matbarrrett6