About half a dozen residential school survivors took part in a walk on June 23 to raise awareness about the residential school system and its legacy and to honor other survivors. They started on Highway 4 at the Tofino highway junction and walked nearly 20 km to their Esowista home, where they had lunch on the beautiful beach.
Nora Martin is a residential school survivor and a long-time advocate of wellness for other residential school survivors. The Tla-o-qui-aht woman was in Ottawa for the final Indian Residential School Survivors gathering held last month and heard Truth and Reconciliation Chair Murray Sinclair read the Commission’s 94 recommendations for reconciliation.
“It was really something and it is painful to remember our people who are no longer here,” said Martin.
“We are here to bring awareness to the public because many people don’t know about things like the residential schools,” said Martin.
Martin said the walk was about raising awareness in the general public about what survivors went through and what Canadian residential schools were about.
“It was about cultural genocide and how that continues to impact our people today,” said Martin.
But Martin is now focused on the future and hopes that everyone can work together on resolution and move forward.
An elder among the group, Katie Fraser, said she wasn’t at residential school long and wasn’t as negatively impacted as perhaps others were.
“I always say I am not a survivor, but residential school survived me,” she smiled.
Fraser said her mother retained her cultural teachings even though she also attended residential school and she passed those teachings on to her children.
“I pray that our children will never experience what our ancestors went through and may Naas forgive those that hurt us and may He bring peace to our people,” said Fraser.
The event wrapped up with a talking circle with support from the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Quu`asa program.
