‘My sadness was lifted’: Tla'Amin First Nation members join in sorrow with Kamloops

To contribute to a dialogue of healing and understanding following the Kamloops Indian Residential School announcement, The B.C. Catholic is sharing stories of individuals who have been working toward truth and reconciliation. We’ll publish first-person accounts as well as interviews over the coming weeks. 

Members of the Tla’Amin Nation joined their sorrow with the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc peoples at an outdoor memorial in Powell River to honour those who died at residential schools.

Betty Wilson, a member of the Tla’Amin people, said four members of the community had attended Kamloops Residential School and were deeply grieved to hear of the unmarked graves recently discovered there.

“Like everyone else I was shocked and very upset when I first heard about the children in Kamloops. Tears flowed for the children,” said Wilson.

Despite unpredictable weather, a ceremony went ahead June 9 with brushing of cedar boughs, singing of mourning songs, and praying the Rosary. Community members who had gone to St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission were also in attendance, as were Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa and his wife, and Church of the Assumption pastor Father Patrick Tepoorten.

It was a small, but deeply moving gesture for Wilson.

“My sadness was lifted as we acknowledged in our traditional way, and through Father Tepoorten’s healing prayers, that we need to work together to create a better world,” she said.

At the ceremony, a cedar box with names of Tla’Amin people who had attended residential schools tucked inside took special prominence. The plan is to bring the box into all three local Catholic churches where Masses will be said for all survivors.

“We will continue our healing prayers that there be resolution for the young children buried.”

She added she drew encouragement from Archbishop J. Michael Miller’s letter of sorrow and apology for residential schools, believing it signalled an openness and willingness to work toward reconciliation.

Other ways the Tla’Amin Nation has participated in the mourning of the 215 included holding a moment of silence, inviting students to wear orange, and hosting a display of signs, shoes, and orange T-shirts at Willingdon Beach Park May 31.

Father Tepoorten said the Willingdon Beach event attracted hundreds of people who lined the streets with orange, showing the diversity of those who care about First Nations reconciliation, with old, young, and people of various backgrounds and professions.

“One thing about Powell River that is amazing is that we have a great connection with the city and the First Nations. We work very closely together, there’s no animosity, and there’s lots of back and forth sharing,” he said.

“People are people, whether you are First Nations or a descendant of white colonial people... It’s all of our problem. We all have to work and do something to make things better for our survivors and their children.”

The Tla’Amin community also hosted a “Hang a Heart” campaign that involved displaying orange paper hearts in a public place in remembrance of the 215 children, and all those who have suffered at residential schools.

“Many of our people have since passed away that lived through this system, many of our people never returned home to their families - for this we grieve and for this we spread awareness,” they said in an invitation to participate in these events.

“When we grieve, as a Nation, we come together in our trying times to lift one another up.”

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