Fort William First Nation and Thunder Bay come together to honour Indian Residential School children and Survivors – Anishinabek News
October 13, 2021
THUNDER BAY — Fort William Chief Peter Collins and Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro stressed the importance of remembering the children lost at Indian Residential School during Thunder Bay’s Sept. 30 tree planting ceremony at Vickers Park.
Thunder Bay Councillor Kristen Oliver and City of Thunder Bay Anishinaabe Elders Advisory Council Elder Kerry McLaughlin also participated in the ceremony to commemorate children sent to Indian Residential Schools and to honour Indian Residential School Survivors and their families at Vickers Park, which is located about half a block west of the former St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School site on Arthur St.
“Like I said at our Sunrise Ceremony this morning (on Anemki Wajiw), the great weather we have here today is the young ones that never returned home shining upon us and guiding us here today as we work in remembrance of them,” Chief Collins says. “When we talk about the city with the big heart, today is showing that big heart, the tree that is going to resemble the growth of the young ones that never got to grow, but also in memory of the survivors that have to deal with the fallout of residential school and the stark reminder that they recently had when they found several unmarked graves in Kamloops and other parts of Canada.”
