Muskeg Lake project honours survivors
- EFN Staff | April 16, 2014
Almost 40 Muskeg Lake Cree Nation Indian Residential Schools Survivors and their families went to Edmonton to partake in the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions national gathering in March. Edmonton drew large numbers from a community that is only an hour away from where a TRC national gathering was held a mere two years ago, because back in 2012, hardly any survivors attended from Muskeg Lake.
"In June 2012, many Muskeg survivors didnt participate. We weren't ready," said Eugene Arcand. "As we work toward our legacy project, we are trying to catch up. We have avoided it for too long. Good for all of us to come together and it was an awesome experience and the fact was, the survivors listened and engaged."
Muskeg Lake tied the Edmonton TRC Gathering into part of a process the entire community is engaged in to create a legacy project to honour the survivors and help with healing in the community.
"The centre piece will be a fire pit by the powwow arbour back home. It will be in the shape of the medicine wheel, surrounded by mature trees, each one representing the families of survivors," said project manager, Lorna Arcand. "It will be a legacy for our children and they will have a better understanding of the residential school era than we had as children growing up and as parents. Lots of our survivors didn't know how to parent so this is a way of teaching our children that they don't have to do what we weren't able to do."
To bring the project together, a committee was struck including five young people from different families and then the community was consulted. They planned events that included a family gathering over a weekend in Saskatoon where they heard from other communities that had legacy projects like Keeseekoose and Cote. Survivors and their families also listened to TRC Commissioner Willie Littlechild, watched a video on the residential schools made by one of their members, and they also honoured artists from the University of Saskatchewan who were working on a residential school commemoration project for the Saskatoon Tribal Council. The next weekend they hosted a play for your reserve hockey tournament.
Then, they coordinated some logistics for the survivors and family members to attend the TRC in Edmonton.
"Just being there and hearing people testify in their own way and tell their stories that is powerful," said Eugene, who is also the Saskatchewan representative on Indian Residential Schools Survivor Committee. "Survivors realize they are not alone and there are ways of dealing with demons without having to go deep into memory. There are holistic ways to deal with past trauma."
The Muskeg Lake Cree Nation legacy project is expected to begin construction this summer so the community can enjoy some peace this year.
"We have to remember all these events are a culmination of community action and our common goal is the good health of our community," added Lorna. "We have 125 living survivors, and we didn't want to leave anyone out. When we first started, people would hear us out then think, oh they will be tired of this in a while. We didn't bother people, but then they realized we weren't going to stop and it was our way of giving back to the community. And if the old people wouldn't listen to us, then we went to the children and they listened and came on board and helped us. It is very important to do this right now. Let's do it now while we still have the ability to help in some real way."
Read our publisher's notes about the Edmonton gathering.