Stephen Kakfwi has a message for the hundreds of children who died while attending residential school in Fort Providence, N.W.T.
He’ll be travelling to the community with family Thursday to say, “We want to remember all of you.”
Kakfwi, who is originally from Fort Good Hope, went to residential school himself when he was nine years old. He remembers how terrifying and lonely it was to be separated from his parents.
So when he learned about 10 years ago that three members of his family were sent to Sacred Heart Mission school in Fort Providence in the 1800s, and died there of illness, he made it a point to start visiting the cemetery.
The former N.W.T. premier has expanded those visits into a pilot project to allow more people with family at Sacred Heart get the chance to visit. This year, he’s heading down with family from Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake and Norman Wells to hold a ceremony for the children.
Deh Gah Got’ie Chief Xavier Canadien will take part, along with elders from the community, Northwest Territories Commissioner Margaret Thom, and other government officials.
There will be a drum ceremony and the community will host a meal for visitors.
Kakfwi and his family are planning to feed the fire berries and dry meat from their home communities as well.
A monument names about 300 children who died at the community’s school.
“We are trying to comfort them,” he said.
“Nobody has spoken their names for over 150 years and we’re just starting to do that. So we will say their names out loud today.”
The ceremony is falling on the same week as Orange Shirt Day — a day to honour Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools, and to learn more about the history of those schools.
Documenting the visits
Elders will also be on hand to provide support to those taking part in the ceremony, as Kakfwi admits he expects it’s going to be an emotional experience.
“There’s probably a lot of feelings that are going to surface today and we’ll try to be prepared for it,” he said.
“There’s no way to make it upbeat. All we can say is we’re happy to finally connect with you.”
Kakfwi says he proposed his pilot project to the National Research Council in Winnipeg as well as Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in Yellowknife.
He has offered to document the visits, so other communities who might get the same idea can use it as a prototype to follow.
Kakfwi is hoping to make the visits an annual event, with more members from his community joining in. He says he recognizes other family names from Fort Good Hope on a monument erected at the Sacred Heart school cemetery dedicated to children who died there.
“The children will know they are finally getting some recognition.”