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‘The time for real change is now’

Mi’kmaq chiefs, residential school survivors honour the past and look to the future

LOGAN MACLEAN logan.macLean@theguardian.pe.ca @loganmaclean94

When Chief Junior Gould is in a crowd, he always has to stand at the back. When he goes somewhere with his children, they have to be in front of him.

His wife and sister know that, and they’ll stand by his side at events like the June 10 vigil for residential school survivors.

It’s something his father taught him.

“I have to stand in the back to make sure my sister is OK, because someone is trying to hurt her,” Gould said.

That was what his father learned at the Shubenacadie residential school.

“My father returned home broken and he raised a broken family,” Gould said.

“He raised a broken son.” But it wasn’t the only thing Gould’s father passed down. He also taught his son to treat people right.

“I will respect you in every aspect. I will respect your culture. I will respect your

city. I will respect you,” Gould said.

“All I ask in return is leave my children alone. Let them grow; let me teach them how

to be a part of society.”

In spite of the the harm done to his father and other Indigenous families, Gould said, the residential school

system didn’t even have its intended effect of assimilation.

“They didn’t kill my father’s Indian in him, because it lives

in me. I’m not a survivor; I’m a descendent. And I am the Indian problem.”

Gould told this story to hundreds of Islanders gathered to commemorate the victims and celebrate the survivors of the Indian residential school system at Confederation Landing Park.

The event was held by L’nuey and the Epekwitk Assembly of Councils in response to the 215 children’s remains recently found on the grounds of a former B.C. residential school.

The vigil opened with a poem from poet laureate and knowledge keeper, Julie Pellissier-Lush.

“Instead of a prayer, I wrote a poem from my heart about everything that it has been going through since that day almost two Fridays ago,” she said.

A smudging ceremony followed where the entire crowd walked together in a circle, with survivors and drummers leading the way.

“It was a tremendous honour,” said Richard PellissierLush, one of the drummers.

He specifically mentioned how much it meant to share that moment with Taite Woolridge, the young son of one of Pellissier-Lush’s leaders, Jenene Wooldridge.

“Taite is a remarkable young man that is finding his own path as a Mi’kmaw young boy,” he said.

“That’s what it’s all about for me, is to teach the next generation, to help with awareness and create education for those youth,” he said.

CALLS TO ACTION

The rest of the ceremony involved speeches, starting with Island’s two Mi’kmaq chiefs, Lennox Island’s Darlene Bernard and Gould, chief of Abegweit First Nation.

Bernard spoke about the need for government engagement and ally education.

“I ask you, I implore you, to demand action of our government leaders,” she said.

“We are calling on our allies to write to our government leaders and demand that they implement the 94 calls to action of the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) report, demand that they implement the 231 calls to justice from the MMIWG (missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls) report.”

She added the need for government support in bringing other residential school children home, along with support for Indigenous healing, which must be Indigenous-led.

“The time for real change is now,” she said.

Gould then expanded on why action is needed and has been for so long.

“Everything the Chief (Bernard)

has just shared with you, this is not news. This is our history,” he said.

“When we tried to explain the connection between the Sir John A. Macdonald statue and our history, I was laughed at. When we tried to explain it in your language, we were called liars.”

EDUCATING THE ISLAND

Along with the June 10 ceremony, Gould has been livestreaming other events to educate a wider audience.

Richard Pellissier-Lush has also been reaching people through social media, specifically Tik Tok videos about Indigenous issues.

“I’m sitting at 29,000 followers at the moment. One video is at 1.7 million views, over 6,000 comments,” he said.

And that engagement has led to learning.

“About 2,000 of those comments is people saying, what’s happening? Can somebody explain this to me?” he said.

“So it’s now become a platform of education and awareness.”

Many of the speakers at Confederation Landing Park also noted the tragedy in London, Ont. this week, where

four members of a Muslim family were deliberately killed by a driver.

“To all Muslim Canadians, we are with you,” Bernard said. “When someone hurts any of us, when someone targets any parent or child or grandparent, we must all stand together and say no.”

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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