Special ceremony sets spirits of lost children free

Until a few days before the Cree ceremony at Fort Normandeau, Florence Large didn’t know her father  Daniel Large had attended the Red Deer Industrial School from 1895-1899.

“My dad never mentioned residential school,” said Large, who attended the special ceremony on June 30 with two of her eight children.

“I wanted to see a picture of my Moosum, to pray. His spirit is here somewhere,” said Mavis Dasilva, Large’s daughter.

The children who died at the school and who were buried across the river from the Fort Normandeau school site were remembered in a closed ceremony in which only Stoney Nakoda Elders were invited.

However, children who attended the school, just west of Red Deer, also came from Cree reserves of Saddle Lake, Whitefish Lake, Goodfish Lake, James Seenum, Little Hunter, the four bands of Hobbema, and Nelson House, Manitoba.

“We need to acknowledge the young children, their spirits, to finish their journey so they can go back to the Spirit World,” said Wilton Littlechild, who presided over the ceremony. Littlechild is a commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“(The TRC) is tasked with gathering the truth,” said Littlechild. “Those who went on didn’t have an opportunity to tell their stories. This is why your ceremony is so important. It completes a circle.”

The names of all 353 students who attended the school were read and descendents were presented with rocks in remembrance.

A working group was established last summer to plan a Freeing of the Spirit ceremony for the cemetery and the school grounds. The decision was made for the Stoney people to host the cemetery ceremony and the Cree people to host the feast at Fort Normandeau.

The working group consisted of representatives from the Métis Nation of Alberta, the First Nations whose children attended the industrial school, and representatives from United Church General Council and Sunnybrook United Church. The Red Deer Industrial School was operated by the Methodist Church, which later became one of the denominations to form the United Church of Canada.

“Half the graves are not marked and there’s an incredible sadness (about that). There’s a terribly emotional, unjust feeling,” said Muriel Stanley Venne, vice president of the MNA.

The cemetery, which now stands on privately-owned land, has 20 grave depressions or outlines although there may be as many as 50 burials at the site.

The Red Deer Industrial School, which operated from 1893-1919, had the highest mortality rate of the time. Deaths were attributed to tuberculosis and Spanish influenza with children weakened by malnutrition.

Charles Wood, one of the coordinators from the Saddle Lake First Nation, said his father, Louis Wood, attended the school.

“He never spoke about residential school or about his time in World War I. I heard about it from others that he had gone to school here,” said Wood.

 Wood is also a residential school student, having gone to Blue Quills residential school from 1946-1952, taken away from his home at the age of nine by an RCMP officer and Indian agent. His father was threatened with incarceration if he didn’t let his son go.

Wood said the impact of residential schools on two generations of his family has been tragic. He had six children, three still living.

“If I had learned about parenting from my mom and dad, my family would have been intact,” said Wood. “I refused to send my children to residential school. I chose to bus them into day school. I did not want them to experience what I went through.”

Large, who also hails from Saddle Lake First Nation, attended Blue Quills residential school as well. She was taken at three years of age although the records claimed she was five. The Indian Act stated that “every Indian child who has attained the age of seven years shall attend school.” She spent 13 years in residential school. Large’s mother attended Onion Lake residential school. She died when Large was two years old.

Rev. Cecile Fausak with the United Church of Canada said it was important for her church to be part of the ceremony.

“In terms of building better relationships and working toward reconciliation, I can’t see that we would not be there. We were part of the system and I think we need to be part of the healing,” said Fausak.

The United Church, and its predecessors the Methodists and Presbyterians, operated up to 16 residential schools that have been included in the Residential School Agreement, of which the United Church is a signatory.