Stories of survival, resilience, take centre stage on Canada Day

There were no fireworks, hardly any flags with red maple leaves found waving in Regina on Thursday, as Canada Day celebrations in Regina were supplanted by stories of Indigenous survival through colonialism.

The markedly different tone on the anniversary of Canada’s confederation came after the discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites: first in Kamloops, B.C. in May, followed by another finding on Cowessess First Nation last month and most recently, by the Lower Kootenay Band in B.C.

Canada Day festivities have been cancelled in many communities in wake of the revelations.

In front of the Legislative Building, a sea of orange shirts was spotted as hundreds gathered for a vigil. Speakers included survivors of residential schools, like Pamela Blondeau.

Blondeau attended the residential school on Muskowekwan First Nation and remembers “massive amounts” of abuse. She spoke about one survivor’s testimony where the infant of one of the priests, who had impregnated a student, was thrown into a furnace.

“She was so horrified she didn’t even run away. She just ran back to her bed and snuck to her bed and hoped that nobody would see her. So these are the types of atrocities that we are recovering from in our communities,” Blondeau said.

Blondeau says she often hears from Canadians, whom she refers to as “brothers and sisters,” about what they can do to help with the healing process.

“What we really need right now, as we’re decolonizing, is the room and the respect to gain everything back that we have lost. Our culture, our tradition, our language. And the support of the Canadians to have that,” she said.

On the steps of the Legislative Building, hundreds of backpacks laid to honour those buried in unmarked graves at former residential school sites. They will be filled with school supplies and donated. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

She also asked non-Indigenous people for understanding, of their customs and history. As well, support to recover from the intergenerational trauma they’re experiencing.

“Our people are still trying to cope. Our people are still trying to figure a way to deal with this pain that we go through. Our intergenerational pain, watching our older people suffer and then having it passed on,” Blondeau said.

Nick Helliwell is a member of the Peepeekisis First Nation. He told the crowd that it was “a good day” because of the truth being revealed.

“It’s a darkness that’s hung over this land. I’m so thankful that it’s coming out into the light,” Helliwell said.

Helliwell’s mother and his grandparents attended residential schools. He is a survivor of another dark chapter in Canada’s history, the Sixties Scoop, a period between the late 1950s to 1980s, when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by child welfare services and placed in the care of non-Indigenous families.

He was apprehended when he was a year old, saying his mother left the home one day, returning only to find a note and her children gone.

“Me and all my brothers were scattered,” Helliwell said. “I had a brother that was a year older than me. I didn’t meet him until I was 50 years old. I didn’t know that I was Indigenous until I was 11.”

Helliwell said finding his identity was a “long and painful journey.” Today, he is a chaplain at the Regina Correctional Centre, where he encounters many of his “brothers,” as Indigenous people make up a disproportionate share of the inmate population.

“Some are calling it the new residential school. I know that a lot of them are there because they’re trying to deal with the pain and the suffering,” he said.

The vigil was followed by another memorial on the Albert Street Bridge. The evening also included a smudge walk at the First Nations University of Canada.

Celebrating the buffalo at newly-renamed park

A street mural being painted on Dewdney Avenue near Buffalo Meadows Park on July 1, 2021. The Buffalo People Arts Institute held a celebration of the buffalo that saw tipis erected, a pipe ceremony, feast, storytelling and a children’s powwow. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

The Buffalo People Arts Institute held a celebration at the recently-renamed Buffalo Meadows Park in North Central.

Buffalo Day was an event to celebrate the animal, an integral part of Indigenous culture, and which used to roam in large numbers on the land where Regina sits today.

“It’s what my people survived off of. We saw the buffalo as a very sacred animal,” said Jayda Delorme, an artist behind one of the street murals on Dewdney Avenue.

That day, tipis were erected in the park, with activities including a pipe ceremony, storytelling, a feast and children’s powwow.

Delorme said it’s cultural expressions like these that help her people recover from traumatic experiences like the discovery of unmarked graves.

“That’s why these events are so important … so we can come together and we claim our culture and identity, through our passion, our singing, our dancing, our art, our beading,” she said. “That’s how we’ll heal and reclaim our identity.

“We could have lost these ways. Today’s 2021 and we need to start doing these more.”

Through his painting, another artist, Kevin Wesaquate, told a story that pre-dates Canada about a boy being raised by the buffalo. He wanted his art to tell young people that they belong here.

“To remind them that we have our stories and they still ring strong. As much as things feel like they’re gone, it’s still there,” Wesaquate said.

“The teachings of self-identity and being proud of being a First Nation is always there. So that’s what I wanted to remind the youth.”