Walking to Ottawa a personal journey for Pinehouse Lake man

A man from Pinehouse Lake is hoping to break the cycle of pain that has come from his father’s time in residential schools by learning to forgive. It’s a long journey, but one he is determined to complete one step at a time.

Dale Smith, 42, began walking from Pinehouse Lake in northern Saskatchewan on March 23 in order to begin what he referred to as his personal journey to forgiveness. The goal is to travel to Regina then on to his final destination of Ottawa, Ontario, almost 3000-kilometers away.

From June 11 to 13 a National ‘Forgiven Summit’ - one part of the ‘Journey of Freedom Tour’ - will take place at the Ottawa Civic Centre, which has set out to help residential school survivors heal from the negative legacy of residential schools.

Smith is determined to make it across the country on time to attend the national summit.

The father of three was inspired to begin his journey after a period of prayer as he was searching for answers to the pain he has carried during his life.

Growing up he had a father who abused alcohol and who was unable to connect with Smith and his other siblings because of a traumatic childhood that was spent at a boarding school in Ile-a-la-Crosse.

Smith made the decision to walk in the name of forgiving his father along with the people involved in traumatizing his father at such a young age.

“He still gets very emotional when he talks about it, that’s one area of my dad that we don’t understand,” said Smith.

Smith admitted that he too struggled with his own addictions in his life. He believes he inherited the pain his father carried from his years in residential school; however, he is determined to break the cycle and not let his children go down the same path.

He is raising awareness about the healing power behind residential school survivors as they embrace forgiveness for the sake of their future. It is the principal message behind ‘The Journey of Freedom Tour’. Led by the founder of Gathering Nations International Chief Kenny Blacksmith, the tour will make 17 stops around the country before the summit in Ottawa.

“For too long (the lack of) forgiveness and (the) bitterness have been a prison locking a vision that gives life and hope to our people,” said Chief Blacksmith in a press release. “It’s time to let go of a negative past.”
Blacksmith has said the six-month tour is a spiritual journey to prepare Canada’s First Nations to release forgiveness and respond to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 formal apology for the government’s role in Indian residential schools.

Smith is hopeful his walk will create awareness surrounding the ‘Journey of Freedom Tour’, but also encourages people he meets along the way to participate in their own personal journey.

“I am sharing the walk with other people,” explained Smith. “If they walk 10-kilometers, I don’t walk that; I hitchhike that distance to honour that person’s spirit of forgiveness.”

After traveling 600-kilometers, Smith said he has been floored by the amount of people that have opened up to him about their own experiences with Indian residential schools.

“I have heard testimonies that have torn my heart apart,” he said. “Some just cry, they can’t even talk.”

Smith also hopes to share his father’s story in order to get his school recognized on the official list of Saskatchewan Indian residential schools.

Indian residential schools in Canada began in the 1840s when Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families and escorted to the institutions where the objective was to assimilate Indians into mainstream society. The last federally run residential school closed down in 1996 on the Gordon Reserve in Saskatchewan.
To learn more about ‘The Journey of Freedom’ and the affiliated events, visit: www.i4give.ca