The Okanagan Nation Alliance unveiled a monument Tuesday, dedicated to those in their community who survived Residential Schools.
“I think this symbolizes the strength of our families and the resilience,” Penticton Indian Band Chief Chad Eneas said. “The heart of the people is alive.”
At the center of the monument on Green Mtn. Road sits a sculpture by Virgil Marchand, a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes and a survivor of the Residential School Experience.
The sculpture is called Bringing Our Children Home and is placed where many children were put into cattle trucks and taken away from indigenous families.
“It represents self-determination among all the indigenous people in Canada especially when, you know, the fracturing of who we are, the nation to nation relationship is so important and it creates hope that our identity and our culture is going to stay alive forever,” Chief Eneas said.
Several members of the Syilx people came forward at Tuesday’s ceremony to share stories of their Residential School experience.
Jack Krueger told a story of his best friend who hung himself after being abused by a priest at the school.
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“All of a sudden one of the other kids came out and said, ‘Jack! Jack! Get over here.’ so I went over there and my little partner was hanging from the rafters and he hung himself. And I screamed and I hollered and I told the teenagers to take him down and they put him in my lap and I just cried and cried. And the priest came and I jumped up and I attacked him. And the priest hit me both on both ears and I hit the ground I was out for two weeks,” Krueger said.
The Syilx community hopes everyone understands the impact of Residential Schools on First Nations in Canada and everyone participates in reconciliation.
“Everybody has a role,” Eneas said. “It’s up to every individual to not accept the tragedy of the past as status quo. Everybody has a role in reconciliation and everybody can do something about it.”
The Residential School program in Canada began in the 1800’s and ended in 1996.
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