Ceremony moves spirit of Calgary’s residential school memorial to permanent home | CBC News
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With tobacco ties and prayer, members of Calgary’s Indigenous community led a march downtown Friday.
They walked to ceremonially transfer the spirit of Calgary’s residential school memorial from its current site at Calgary city hall to a permanent home at The Confluence historic site, formerly Fort Calgary.
The temporary memorial had been at city hall since 2021, with shoes and stuffed animals left there by the community honouring children who did not return from residential schools.
“We need to acknowledge that every shoe was filled by children that never got to come home,” said Tsuut’ina First Nation member Kelly McGillis, who was among the many who helped create and maintain the memorial.
The many items left at the temporary memorial will start to be removed from the steps Saturday. The permanent memorial, known as The Wandering Spirit, is expected to begin construction in 2027.
The 215 tobacco ties used in the ceremony were carried by community members marching from city hall to The Confluence, with the small pouches of tobacco carrying the spirit of the memorial.
Dozens of people marched from a temporary residential school memorial at city hall to The Confluence historic site on Friday. The purpose of the ceremony was to help transfer the spirt of the Indigenous children to its permanent memorial site. Since 2021, children’s shoes and stuffed animals have been displayed on the city hall steps to honour those who did not return from residential schools.
The City of Calgary announced in 2023 that it would collaborate with the Fort Calgary Preservation Society on a permanent memorial, after collecting community feedback the year prior.
“As we prepare to create a memorial that will be woven into Calgary’s fabric forever, this transition honors the survivors and the children who never came home,” said Lorelei Higgins with the city’s Indigenous Relations Office during the ceremony.
“Together, we are advancing truth and reconciliation by creating something even more meaningful, a lasting place of remembrance, learning, and healing,” she said.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas called for Canadians to address “the awful tragedies in our history” while moving forward positively.
“That there were still people in residential schools when I was going through elementary school, that I was going through high school, going through university, that to me is deeply saddening,” Farkas said.
Canada’s last residential school closed in 1997. For more than 160 years, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called “a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages.”
Residential school survivor descendant Lynnisa Pasap, from White Bear First Nation in Saskatchewan, said she appreciated the opportunity to take part in the ceremony.
“We need to be there to support one another, and community coming together like this is very healing,” she said.
A community celebration will be hosted at The Confluence on March 27 to honour the ceremonial transfer.