Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
When the remains of 215 missing children were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the local Tim Hortons became more than a pit stop for coffee and doughnuts.
It turned into an unofficial community gathering place for mourning, reflection and support.
"Where our restaurant is located, it's pretty much Ground Zero," franchise co-owner Shane Gottfriedson, former chief of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation, said in an interview.
"You can pretty well see the grave sites from here."
The discovery of the unmarked graves of children, some as young as three years old, sent shock waves across the country last spring.
It also propelled a group of Indigenous Tim Hortons owners to come up with a fundraising campaign for residential school survivors involving an orange-sprinkled doughnut.
Many First Nations people travelled to the British Columbia community this year, stopping in at the nearby Indigenous owned and operated Tim Hortons along the way, said Gottfriedson, also a former B.C. regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations.
"They came and gathered ... it was very emotionally charged," he said. "We have a lot of Indigenous people working for us with family that went to Indian residential schools as well, so it triggered a lot of emotions and opened up a lot of old wounds."
The restaurant donated food and drinks to those paying their respects, but Indigenous Tim Hortons owners across the country wanted to do more.
They launched a working group and came up with an idea for a national campaign to raise money for Indigenous organizations that support residential school survivors.
For one week starting Sept. 30, Tim Hortons will donate 100 per cent of the retail price of orange-sprinkled doughnuts to the Orange Shirt Society and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
"I'm very proud that as a Tim Hortons family we can do something to help," said Gottfriedson, who co-owns his restaurant with Joe Quewezance and Mitch Shuter.
"There's a lot of hurt within our communities that still exists, so this is about supporting some great organizations and also raising awareness."
The federal government announced earlier this year that Sept. 30 would be the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a new statutory holiday.
It's also Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that has been observed since 2013 when Phyllis Webstad shared her story of her first day of school. It was 1973 when the six-year-old went to St. Joseph's Mission Residential School in B.C. wearing an orange shirt from her grandmother. The shirt was taken away never to be seen again.
The Orange Shirt Society, and the Every Child Matters movement, raise awareness about Canada's residential school history and support survivors.
"The truth and legacy of the residential school system are not only Indigenous history, they are Canadian history that every Canadian should learn and know about," Webstad said in a statement. "I'm humbled and honoured that my story is a vehicle for change across Canada."
Angela White, executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said the organization is offering virtual one-on-one supports including a 24-hour crisis line during the pandemic, and that community contributions enhance the care they provide.
Landon Miller, part of the working group of Tim Hortons owners, launched his own grassroots orange doughnut campaign at his restaurant on Six Nations of the Grand River territory in the days after the Kamloops discovery.
"We were able to quickly raise over $5,000 in our individual campaign and I'm excited for this idea to go national, and grateful for the support of Tim Hortons owners and guests across Canada," Miller said in a statement.
For decades, the Indian residential school system in Canada forcibly took Indigenous children away from their families. Many never returned.
The Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced in May that ground-penetrating radar identified the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves on the grounds of the Kamloops school.
Other Indigenous nations in Canada have reported finding remains using the same technology. The Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan said in June that a search of the Marieval Indian Residential School grounds revealed what are believed to be 751 unmarked graves.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2021.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.