Many were touched by the keynote from Ted Quewezance of the National Residential School Survivors Society. He shared how the residential schools affected five generations of his family and what they were doing to rebuild.
Earlier today, in several talking circles people felt led to talk about their experiences in residential schools.
For some Sacred Circle members, this sharing was a surprise because they thought that people had moved on from these experiences.
For others, it brought up personal memories of feeling humiliated by their heritage, for example, if they were punished for speaking their language in school.
“It was difficult for me to hear others’ stories even though I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself,” said one memory keeper.
“It was difficult to feel the pain that these ladies were feeling. I didn’t know what to do, but they asked us come and pray for them, and we just prayed.”