Grade 12 Student Sydney Mason is one of nearly 500 students who planted a flag on Thursday.
Mason attends the nearby high school after two generations of her family attended the Shubenacadie Residential School. Her Grandmother and great-grandmother were both survivors of the school that closed in 1967.
The Shubenacadie Residential School opened to students in 1930 in Shubie, N.S. The site had countless children from both Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik First Nations.
The site of brick and ploughland, instead, held an orange heart. Filled with nearly 15,000 orange flags, it honours those who lost their lives and the survivors who continue to live with the memories.
“I was thinking about all the people who have passed, those who kept going and those who didn’t get to see this,” Mason said to Global News. “It is still hurting people’s hearts. It is totally a day of remembrance.”
The former residential school is just three kilometres from the nearby First Nation.
“The impact of residential schools goes and on and on,” said local Sipeknekatik Councillor De-anne Sack.
“It’s intergenerational trauma that continues to this day.”
Sack said that for those in the area, seeing the green hills, the nearby river and the red mud can quickly become a painful reminder of hurt to their families.
She pictures it by asking the question, “Can you drive by something that causes you harm multiple times a day?”
Seeing the students learn to honour many of their ancestors and also take time to respect the history, while emotional, became an important piece of education.
“(I have) nothing but pride. That pride, that special pride, where your heart swells up so big, you have a lump in your throat, she said.”
The Sipeknekatik First Nation plans on leaving the heart up through National Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30th.
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-800-721-0066) is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.
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