Walk remembers residential school survivors

A walk down Broadway Street in the city Sunday was about remembrance and education.

“It’s an education and awareness walk for residential school survivors,” explained Tribal Chief Isabel O’Soup of the Yorkton Tribal Council.

“Part of this is ‘Every Child Matters’,” said O’Soup, adding “it doesn’t matter the colour of their skin.

O’Soup also noted the residential school survivors “were little kids” when they were taken from their families and put into the school.

It’s a case where First Nations people now go to school where they learn European history, “but we don’t learn about residential schools,” offered O’Soup.

So events such as the walk are required to remember, she said.

“We don’t want to forget it,” said O’Soup.

It’s a situation where the Canadian government’s “policy of assimilation” are important to remember for what those policies have meant to subsequent generations, said O’Soup. As an example she noted her grandmother did not teach her language to O’Soup’s mother.

“She said ‘why would I teach my language when I got beaten every time I spoke it’,” related O’Soup. “It’s really overwhelming to overcome.”

O’Soup said they are not looking to focus on the past, but suggested the past must be understood to work on a better future.

“We really want to work on reconciliation in Yorkton,” she said, adding “we can’t change the past, we can only change the future.”