Every September, we are asked to take a moment to pause and reflect on the lasting impacts of residential schools, and the trauma, secrets, and harm that are still carried today.
Understanding the lasting impacts
Every Indigenous person has a direct connection to someone who attended residential school. There were generations of Indigenous children who were raised in these institutions. When nearly entire generations were taken from their community and raised without parents or family structures, it is inevitable that the generations to follow will be impacted. These traumas have been passed down generation to generation through experiences and behaviours.
Creating meaningful space
Unfortunately, these unfathomable truths are being disgraced by conspiracy theorist and denialists. The people who spend their time trying to “debunk” these horrible truths experienced by children are loud and persistent.
On this day, the media often includes numbers in their coverage: the number of schools, the number of students, and the number of potential unmarked graves. These were, and are, children, not numbers. Each child had a family missing them, and many of these families were never reunited with their children.