Mourning the children lost in Alberta's care

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Five black crosses, two tipis and a sacred fire marked the place where a vigil was held to honor Aboriginal children who have died while in foster care.

In spite of blasts of wind and rain, about 150 people showed up over the three-day vigil period held from May 20 to 22 at the Rotary Park in Red Deer to pay tribute to the innocent dead.

Eric Nystrom, one of the organizers, said some children die without being recognized as Metis or Native. He said the crosses are symbolizing the children and "...those numbers are aloof. We don't know what number to put. We just know that the whole bunch of them died in foster care."

Officially, seven children in the care of a child wellness agency on Samson Cree Nation have died since 1999; some were in foster care when they died and some died while dealing with social services.

"If you would just imagine that a serial killer came through a community and, over a two-year period, killed seven children, you could imagine public outcry, but it seems to me that...because these are Aboriginal kids, that there's not much of a concern by the community, by social services," Nystrom said.

Metis Elder Bud Lee, who himself was adopted into a "mixed marriage" of a German woman and a Native man, said "not all adoption ends up with bad relations...I've got to speak on behalf of my upbringing, which was good...I was very fortunate."

He stressed that "no particular one race- white, red, or yellow or black, is responsible for the conditions." He said they were all responsible.

He also said he would like to see a monument erected to mark the deaths of children in care.

"I was thinking that possibly we might name it the unknown grave of the Aboriginal child, much like the unknown soldier of our military past, to acknowledge the fact that it's been an ongoing situation." He said it's important that some attention is drawn to the situation and adjustments made.

"My being here is not a part of any organization, it's to do with the community," said Leslie Stonechild. "In my understanding, this is a grieving. Our community needs an opportunity to grieve because some of us work with children.

"The whole community needs an opportunity to let go of the children and the work they've done with them. We hope that this will be our rebirth, change time, and we will step forward and work towards solutions."