Caldwells pen open letter to PM regarding residential schools

LEAMINGTON — After last week’s discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., the Caldwell First Nation is calling upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare a national day of mourning.

The Caldwell Council, consisting of Acting Chief Robyn Perkins, Councillor, James Peters, Councillor Stan Scott and Councillor Steve Simpson, crafted the letter to announce that Caldwell First Nation would be lowering their flags during the period of mourning, which will last 215 hours, and began on Monday, May 31.

“A mass grave containing 215 children was discovered on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia and is just another stark example of the violence inflicted upon Indigenous people,” said the letter.

“In addition to being forcibly removed from their families and communities, many children in residential schools faced brutal physical, emotional and sexual abuse, were deprived of food and proper nutrition, and suffered high rates of death. These children were loved and should never have been removed from their families.”

Caldwell First Nation is encouraging and asking that all Canadians wear orange and lower their flags in honour of these children.

“We will do this for 215 hours – one hour in honour of each of the innocent and loved souls who were buried and treated in such a vile and unfathomable way,” they said.

The number for the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is 1-800-925-4419.

Residential schools were discontinued in 1996, but the toll they took on Indigenous Canadians is still being felt some 25 years after the last school shuttered its doors.

The residential school in Kamloops closed in 1978.