NDTR event in Melfort focused on Indigenous history, reconciliation

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

MUCC Principal Dave Painchaud addressed the crowd. (Image Credit: Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

Round dance and walk

NDTR event in Melfort focused on Indigenous history, reconciliation

1h ago

Health Funding

Saskatchewan at the table for federal meeting about health transfers

4h ago

Trade War

Trump's import bans on Canadian liquor, whey, motorcycles take effect

4h ago

Constant said schools now teach students about the history of residential schools and their lasting effects. She said that education was absent when she was growing up.

“I’m almost 60 and I never learned anything [about that history], not one thing, and so that learning has all come in my later adult years.”

Her daughter Jenna also spoke at the event about her own journey. Jenna told the crowd her grandfather attended residential school and died before she could speak with him about it. Her father attended day school.

As a young person, Jenna said she hid her Indigenous background and even joined in racist comments she heard. Later, while working with Indigenous children, she realized she needed to accept her identity and heritage to give those children her full love.

Jenna spoke about the guilt she feels over her past behaviour and denial of her culture, as well as anger and frustration over the treatment of Indigenous people. She also spoke of hope for the future.

She thanked residential school survivors for sharing their stories and acknowledged those who died in the system. She also recognized the pain carried by families affected by residential schools and their efforts to raise their children differently.

“Indigenous history is Canadian history,” Jenna said. Echoing former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair Murray Sinclair, she added that reconciliation “is not a spectator sport.”

Jenna Constant’s emotional speech focused on her Indigenous heritage, and the shame of her denying her own background for many years. (Image Credit: Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

Constant said her daughter has taught her a great deal about what reconciliation means in daily life.

“It is not just putting on an orange shirt; it is the actions that we do every single day, how we treat people, how our systems treat people, what we expect from our systems.”

Seeing so many people at Tuesday’s event gave Constant hope. She said people should also remember that residential schools are not part of the distant past: the last one in Saskatchewan closed in 1996.

Constant encouraged people to read books, listen to podcasts and seek out other resources to learn about residential schools, their effects on Indigenous families and what they can do to advance reconciliation.

—

cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com