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Freedom March through Shubenacadie

Large turnout for march through Shubenacadie

RICHARD MACKENZIE TRURO NEWS richard.mackenzie @saltwire.com

SHUBENACADIE – An offand-on drizzle did little to dampen the spirit of those participating in a ‘freedom march’ in Shubenacadie on June 21 - National Indigenous Peoples Day

Organized by Tara Lewis and Joseph Brooks of Eskasoni, the walk took place from the former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School site to the community’s downtown, where a CN train station was once located; a roughly onekilometre distance.

This was the second year for the walk, which started after Lewis’ father – Elmer, a residential school survivor – told her and Brooks about a dream he had about having a march – a freedom march between the two locations.

Elder Benjamin’ Benji’ Lafford was part of a bus full of walkers who came to Shubenacadie from Eskasoni.

“I’m a survivor. I was there for seven years, from 1961 to when the schools were closed in 1967, and that is when we got our freedom. That is why we call this walk a freedom march,” Lafford, who delivered a moving prayer just before the march, said.

“I’m here to help my brothers and sisters who were in residential school in Nova Scotia and across Canada,” Lafford added. “The residential schools were very, very negative. And we didn’t understand at the time because we were kids; nobody told us anything (about why they were being taken); they kept it to themselves.”

Lafford said the narrative of the day was often to blame the Indigenous parents and imply the children would be better off taken away from them and placed in the schools.

“They said things like, you’re not fit to have your children with you, so we’re going to take them away from you and send them to residential schools,” he said. “There were no questions from the RCMP, Indian Affairs, or the government … they just took us away. And I remember everything about that school; I knew all the priests, the nuns.”

Lafford glared back at the exact location as his words trailed off.

He credits his Elders for not only helping him be a survivor of the school but recovering from turning to alcohol and drugs to deal with the lingering trauma.

“I have a lot of positive thinking now … I’m a dancer now,” he said. “I dance at Pow Wows and I have changed my life. For years I was an alcoholic, a drug addict, a bad boy, but I never went to prison. I changed my life, my spiritual reality, my healing … and it all came from my Elders at Pow Wows.”

Asked whether it was hard to be at the site, with conviction, Lafford said, “no.”

“Because I’m stronger now. It has been 18 years since I stopped drinking and 10 years since I’ve done drugs. I needed to heal; heal my feelings of anger, frustrations, and if I didn’t do that, I would be still drunk today. Then I couldn’t walk here today, but I’m walking with a clean and sober body and mind.

“That is why my prayers were important if you understand them. They make you stronger and never let you forget where you come from.”

Strategically positioned in the middle of the walkers, so they would be heard by all, was singing and drumming group Eastern Eagle from nearby Sipekne’katik First Nation.

Member Keegan Sack said it was an honour to sing and drum for the survivors and Elders in the march and all others.

“This here is for our Elders, our survivors, the people we care about and cherish close to our hearts,” he said. “As Eastern Eagle, we were asked to come out and sing for our survivors, our Elders, and it was a no-brainer for us. If even one of our Elders enjoys our music and it makes them feel a little better, that is a win for us.”

Sack said the day is one of joy and celebration as National Indigenous Peoples Day, but also a difficult one brought on by reflecting on the residential school experience and the discovery of 215 Indigenous children bodies in Kamloops, B.C., only a year earlier.

“It’s a day of celebration but also a day of mourning and a tough day for a lot of people because of the residential school children who were found in the unmarked graves,” he said. “All of these things we’re thinking about while celebrating Indigenous Day, as Indigenous people.

“But if we (Eastern Eagle) can help to make someone’s day a little better, a beautiful day instead of one of mourning, that’s what we’re here to do.”

Also from Sipekne’katik, Peter Syliboy supported the marchers as they came up the main street in Shubenacadie, where the event continued with a meal, followed by speeches from those willing to share their stories.

“It’s about bringing awareness for all the older people when they were forced to go to the residential school, and when they finally got out and went home. The train station used to be here, where they used to get on to go home,” Syliboy said, gesturing to a site only yards away.

Syliboy’s mother was forced to attend the residential school.

“She is no longer with us, but it was,” he said, about the pain the memory inflicted on his mother.

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