Hundreds of visitors gathered at Wanuskewin Heritage Park on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to mark the occasion and to hear from residential school survivors. One of those survivors, Wally Awasis, spoke to a packed room as the day began. Awasis detailed how he spent several years attending residential school, starting at five years old. Like many Indigenous children who went to residential schools, Awasis left with trauma that has taken many years of healing to address. “The more that you’re able to tell your story, the easier you’re able to heal from it. Because it’s out there. It’s no longer just stuck inside you. It’s hard not to be emotional sometimes,” Awasis said. Between 1857 and 1996, Indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to church-run residential schools that were funded by the Canadian government. During this time, an estimated 150,000 children were put in the schools, which aimed at erasing Indigenous culture and language. Many children suffered physical, sexual and verbal abuse within the schools, leaving them with significant trauma that has impacted generations of Indigenous people. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has documented the deaths of 3,200 children at residential schools however, the true number is believed to be much higher as many deaths were not formally documented. “Remember the atrocities that took place and the hardships and the suffering that our people went through in residential schools. So today is a good day to be able to do that and reflect and also to be able to tell the truth and finding ways to try and correct some of those wrongs,” Awasis said. The residential school survivor shared that after leaving, he struggled to cope with the trauma that the school inflicted upon him. At 18 years old, Awasis was serving time in prison when he made the decision to seek help and work towards healing. “When I found my mom was still alive, and my dad was still alive, that [gave me] purpose. Meaning, to get out of prison to try and do something about it so that I can live my life in a good way,” Awasis said. Awasis had not seen his mother since his first year in residential school at five years old. After getting out of the school, he began searching for her and eventually found a mutual contact who was able to help him get in touch with her. “I wanted to see my mom. I wanted to know what she looked like, what she sounded like, what she felt like. I wanted to hear her laughter, her cries. I missed all that as a child. But at least I had 20 good years with her after that,” Awasis said. As Awasis shared his story with the crowd at Wanuskewin, many became visibly emotional hearing the residential school survivor speak to his experience both in the school and the long-term impacts that have followed him throughout the rest of his life. Jenaya Chutskoff, the CEO of Wanuskewin, shared that the park had programming scheduled throughout the day intended to provide education and highlight Indigenous culture. She explained that having residential school survivors in attendance was one of the most meaningful parts of the day. “We need that information because without it, we can’t truly understand the gravity and hear the truth of what did in fact happen at residential schools,” Chutskoff said. She added that while education is improving, there is still a long way to go. “In the communities that we live in, there are sometimes people that are denying a lot of these truths and without being able to come forward and express them, we really need to be able to collectively understand that truth and move forward with that truth in our hearts,” Chutskoff said. While most school curricula now include education regarding residential schools, this was not the case for many years. Guests of all ages were in attendance at Wanuskewin and Chutskoff shared that continuing to teach future generations about this history in a way that previous generations were not taught is incredibly important. “We can’t reconcile if we don’t have empathy for what people experienced in residential school systems. And that starts really young. Having age-appropriate conversations with our kids and being able to learn more and more as we grow older, because we are all treaty people and we’re all part of reconciliation in Canada and Saskatchewan,” Chutskoff said. For Awasis, the day is both difficult and rewarding. “Some of those feelings are really deep, and to reminisce about them, to bring them back up to the surface is really kind of difficult sometimes. So the emotions, we just let them flow so that healing can begin,” Awasis said. He added that while the day is intended to be one of remembrance, it is also meant to highlight Indigenous culture in a positive way. “We can celebrate and remember and work together and share so we don’t forget what’s happened and what needs to take place in the future so that we can learn to get along,” Awasis said.
