Community members across the Cowichan Valley came out to join in supporting the memories of those who were victims of residential schools with stories, reflection, and a moment of silence.
The annual event began in 2021 and runs alongside Orange Shirt Day to recognize the tragic legacy of the children who never returned home from residential schools across Canada.
Cowichan Tribe chief Cindy Daniels is one of the few remaining survivors and says hearing the stories of people who spoke brought back a lot of memories, as well as a lot of emotions to the surface.
“It means a lot to see the support for residential school survivors,” she says. “The trauma and the history that Canada carries right now, and people are caring enough to come out and learn as well as listen, and find out what happened to our people.
Daniels says the impact of the residential school system has made a huge impact on the local tribe.
“This has had an impact on Cowichan Tribes,” she says. “RCMP and an agent would go door to door and scoop up our children and force them to go. If they didn’t allow them (children) to go, they were threatened.”
Daniels says she suffered through hard times while attending residential schools, and this has left a large wound to heal.
“The disconnect that the residential school caused for those great grandparents, grandparents and our parents was passed down,” she says. “We’re still trying to deal with it and trying to break that cycle.
“This is to allow our kids, and generation to have a healthier future.”
Promoting the ‘real’ is how Daniels says reconciliation will be made, and the way to embark on finding out the truth is through educating and storytelling.
“Let’s learn the truth and reconcile,” she says. “Let’s deal with the past and move on.”
According to Daniels, the first school opened in 1806, and the last one was decommissioned in 1996.
