Thousands of hearts planted in honour of residential school students

Students in Gibbons and members of the Immanuel Anglican Church in Wetaskiwin are among the many in Canada honouring the 150,000 Aboriginal children who lost their childhood and their culture to the residential school system through heart gardens. Over 250 were planted across the province and thousands nationwide.

Communities have painted murals, decorated paper hearts, sewn quilts and planted heart-shaped flowerbeds. The intent of the gardens is to get people talking about the reality and painful legacy of residential schools.

“Being able to share this information with students and staff has been so amazing,” said Agnes Finney, the First Nations, Métis, Inuit coordinator with Landing Trail school, in Gibbons. “You can see the impact it’s having. … Parents can be afraid to talk about some of these issues, but the kids are eager to learn and understand. It just makes us more aware as human beings—this happened in our country, and it can’t happen again.”

Finney has been working with the students and staff at Landing Trail school for over a year, teaching curriculum about the Aboriginal way of life and the impact of residential schools, which spanned two centuries. All 420 students created hearts out of paper, decorated them with messages of hope and love, and on June 1, walked down to the river and planted them, on sticks, along the riverside. Grade 7 students also worked on a quilting project, each creating their own square and then sewing the squares together into a wampum belt.

“A lot of this information isn’t available in text or curriculum so it’s so important as educators to talk about it and to address it,” Finney said, adding that the process was particularly special at Landing Trail because of the mix of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. “They’re eager to learn, they’re aware of what happened and why, and they’ll never forget what these hearts represent.”

In Westaskiwin, the Immanuel Anglican Church, is also taking part in the healing, planting an honourary garden in the churchyard in addition to one made of paper.

“We’re gathering families to decorate hearts and we’re also planting an actual flower garden in the shape of a heart in front of the church,” said Fiona Brownlee, Aboriginal and rural churches liaison for the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton. “There will be flowers in the four colours of the four directions—yellow, blue, red and white—and we’ll be planting sacred medicines—sage, mint and lavender. It’s in memory of the children who didn’t return and in honour of those who did.…Wetaskiwin means ‘place where peace is made’ and we’re really holding onto that.”

The church held their heart garden event on May 31, and Brownlee says that she hopes their living garden will inspire Canadians walking by to learn more and ask questions.

The Anglican church is one of four churches to sign the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“I believe this conversation has just started,” Finney said, echoing Brownlee’s sentiments. “It’s not going to end. I’m looking forward to being part of the whole conversation.”

The heart garden initiative was the national segment of the closing ceremonies for the TRC. The commission was established in 2008 and tasked to uncover the truth behind the residential school system and to share that truth with all Canadians. Through research, education and experience-sharing, the TRC hoped to foster reconciliation and healing. Closing ceremonies to recognize the work done by the commission were held May 31 to June 3 in Ottawa. At the same time, organizations and individuals across Canada planted heart gardens in their communities in honour of the children.

Photo Caption: Grade 7 students at Landing Trail school, including (from left) Matthew Marches, Jacob Hayward, Haylee Krawec, Karley Bilsky, worked on a quilting project, each creating their own square and then sewing the squares together into a wampum belt.