LAC LA BICHE - Beaver Lake Cree Nation Chief Gary Lameman told a small group of attendees at a recent sunrise ceremony in Lac La Biche’s Portage College campus that he continues to live with the effects of Canada’s residential school system.
In fact, the actual words he spoke – words voiced with a little difficulty using the traditional Cree language – are clear examples of those effects.
“I think you realize that I speak English a lot better than I speak Cree, and that’s one of the effects of the residential school,” he said.
Many of those children who went to residential schools were stripped of their language and culture. Lameman went on to say that while his grandmother and father attended residential school, they both maintained most of their Cree language and were able to teach him some of the language.
Lameman and other local dignitaries attended the Sunrise Ceremony on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Since the day of awareness was officially recognized by the federal government in 2020, Portage College officials have hosted asunrise ceremony at the Lac La Biche campus. This year’s event took place inside the specially-designated Indigenous area at the college, inside the Waniskah Room.
The ceremony started around 7:30 a.m. with a greeting and an elder’s prayer. This was followed by speeches from representatives of Indigenous and Métis communities who were in attendance, and traditional drumming and dancing performances.
Joining the Beaver Lake Cree Nation chief in the official welcome was Jason Ekeberg, the citizens representative for the Lac La Biche District of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government. Ekeberg said the sunrise ceremony is important as it brings everyone together to create awareness and acknowledgement of the past.
“It’s time for us to bring the truth out so we can reconcile with everybody…with our people…with our survivors…with the people who don’t understand what happened over the course of time,” he said.
Soul Datchuk, a student at Portage College, sang a traditional song during the ceremony. The Métis student said the sunrise ceremony is significant as it honours survivors and makes people aware of the atrocities that happened as part of the legacy of Canada’s residential school system.
“We’re moving towards reconciliation, which is two paths merging as one for healing,” Datchuk told Lakeland This Week, explaining that the awareness is for Indigenous and non-indigenous people. “We won’t ever truly find healing unless we have each other.”
Portage College president Nancy Broadbent-along with other officials from the school-were in attendance at the early morning ceremony for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. She said the sunrise ceremony is significant as it brings awareness to the wrongs that occurred in the residential school system and also work that needs to be done to help people heal.
“We find that it is very fitting to commemorate the damage that was done by residential school and to celebrate Orange Shirt Day,” Broadbent said.