More than 600 people filled the roads of Alderville First Nation Wednesday, September 30, in a powerful sea of orange as the community marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and honoured the children who were taken from their families through the residential and day school systems.
The annual Every Child Matters Walk, hosted by Alderville First Nation, began at the Alderville First Nation Health Building on County Road 45 before making its way to the Alderville Church/Community Centre.
For those taking part, the walk was about remembering the children who never returned home, honouring survivors and confronting a history that continues to affect Indigenous communities.
Among those attending were Northumberland County Warden Bob Crate, Alnwick/Haldimand Mayor John Logel, Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland, OPP Inspector Mike Cavanagh, Alnwick/Haldimand Fire Chief David Dawson, Hamilton Township Fire Chief Mike Robinson and Cramahe Township Fire Chief Matt Halmasy.
Representatives from organizations including Northumberland United Way and Northumberland Hills Hospital also joined the walk.
A temporary closure of County Road 45 was put in place between 3rd Line and Roseneath Landing Road as hundreds gathered for the event.
Alderville First Nation Chief Taynar Simpson said the day is about ensuring the memory of the children is never lost.
“What we’re trying to get across today is to honour the memory of the students who survived the residential school system and those who never made it back,” Simpson said.
“We always want to be mindful of the sacrifice that our people, our children had to make for the assimilation and nation building process that was Canada.”
Simpson said Canada has entered what he described as a new era of reconciliation, but warned that the work cannot stop.
“I think Canada’s woken up to what’s happening and we’re entering that new era of reconciliation, but we could never let off, because we know that people are out there denying that the residential schools happened,” he said.
“They’re denying that these atrocities happened and we can’t let that happen. We know this happened.”
Simpson has been involved in research into the children who went missing or died at residential schools.
“I was part of the research that identified the missing children and the children that perished at the schools,” he said.
“We need to ensure that their memory lives on.”
For Alderville, the history is particularly significant.
The walk ended at a site with a direct connection to the history of Indigenous education and Canada’s residential school system.
Simpson explained that the site of the Alderville administration building was where the first industrial school in Canada was established.
“That school opened in 1836. It subsequently burned down and it was reopened in 1839,” he said.
“It opened as the Alderville Manual Labor School. And then that turned into the industrial school in 1842.”
The school eventually closed, but Alderville’s connection to the government-controlled education system continued.
“In the early 1900s the Alderville Indian Day School was opened which most of our students went to that school instead of being shipped off to residential schools,” Simpson said.
“Although some of our children did go to residential schools and some of them never made it back. They did perish at the school.”
Simpson said that history is something Alderville must continue to remember and memorialize.
“Alderville has a deep connection to the whole residential school system and it’s something that we need to honour and memorialize as often as we can,” he said.
Alderville First Nation Elder Nora Sawyer shared a deeply personal story of growing up in a time when Indigenous families lived under the threat of children being taken from their homes.
Sawyer recalled how her mother would warn her and her sisters whenever an Indian agent was expected in the community.
“When my mom kind of knew that they were coming she would say to us, ‘Go to the woods. Go to your spot,’” Sawyer said.
The children had a particular place in the woods where they would hide.
“We didn’t have food or water for the day. She’d just say go,” Sawyer recalled.
“Oftentimes we’d be there for the whole day, maybe till 10:30 at night.”
Sawyer said she and her sisters were at an age when they could potentially be taken away from their family.
“We were eight or nine years old, we were at that age where we could be taken away and my mom knew,” she said.
Her mother’s determination to keep her children safe was unwavering.
“She would say, ‘Come hell or high water, I’m not letting anybody take you guys,’” Sawyer said.
“So we were able to stay home and she protected us.”
But Sawyer said not every family was as fortunate.
“We were fortunate because there’s some of our cousins and friends that weren’t as fortunate and they were taken away,” she said.
The story brought a deeply personal meaning to the orange shirts worn by hundreds walking through Alderville Wednesday.
For Simpson, the turnout demonstrated the importance of having allies standing alongside Alderville.
“Today we’re joined by our allies here in Alderville First Nation who are walking with us to remember the children,” he said.
“To us that just means so much to know that we have support. We have the love of our neighbours and our friends and our allies.”
But Simpson said one day of remembrance is not enough.
“Once a year isn’t enough for something like this,” he said.
“We’d love to see this more often, but we’ll take it with once a year. And I’m just so thankful that so many people came out today to share this day with us.”
As more than 600 people walked together in orange, the message from Alderville was unmistakable: remember the children, listen to survivors and do not allow their history to be forgotten.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
