This morning I suggested that we walk to the site of the former Regina Indian Industrial School. I had a vague idea where it was and an optimistic sense of how far we’d have to walk. I was right about the location, but it was a lot farther than I’d imagined. But pilgrimages should be difficult, and this walk counts as a pilgrimage, I think.
The site of the school isn’t hard to find. When you get to the corner of Dewdney Avenue and Pinkie Road, you turn north. There’s a big liquid propane gas facility on the west side of the road, and just before you get to some sheds belonging to a construction company, you’ll see a white rail fence with weather-worn teddy bears and toys fastened to it. That’s where the school was–or at least where its graveyard was, and is. Using ground-penetrating radar, archaeologists have found at least 40 unmarked graves within and outside that fence. Those children died when they were students at the school, and nobody even had the decency to return their bodies to their families. Like everything else about residential schools, it’s a tremendous wrong. It’s shameful. At least it looks like the city will purchase the site to prevent it from being developed. Good thing, because we walked by the site of a huge housing and retail development called Westerra, which is a sign of what’s likely to happen to this part of the city in the future. Without care and attention, the site of the Regina Indian Industrial School, and its graveyard, could easily be obliterated by a similar development.
I left some tobacco by the fence and thought about those children. Then we started back. We stopped at the Sakimay First Nation’s gas bar and convenience store at the corner of Dewdney and Pinkie. I’d hoped they sold bags of bannock, like the Cowessess First Nation does at their gas station on the other side of town, but no luck. Oh well. We bought a little bag of chocolates instead. Then we made the long trudge along 13th Avenue back home. Altogether we walked 21.5 kilometres today–a reasonable afternoon’s work.
A very sad peice of our history. Unfortunately it has left a lasting legacy that still drags on our Nations’ coat tails. Hopefully we will get past this unfortunate history and move forward…sooner than later.
By the way, I always like the idea of chocolate when walking and I remember that huge slab of Spanish chocolate you pulled out of your pack one day. If I remember correctly, you carried it for many days before opening it. You are a very brave peregrino to carry all that weight and not eat it!!!
Hey Ken
Thanks for sharing this walk, which clearly was more about respect and solidarity than scenery. I went driving today not walking. My son Alex was keen for me to join him to launch his new rocket – the first opportunity for the year as the summer heat has meant the fire risk has been too high for a launch before this. We had a good morning together with two successful launches and two successful recoveries – which means he still has a rocket!!
We have switched back from summer time today so as your days warm and lengthen ours are calling and getting shorter. The thought of winter is not as daunting this year as I have the excitement of the camino pilgrimage at the end of it, not to mention a possible visit to Canada in August and a possible walk with you and Geoff, my Canadian camino buddies, in BC. Here’s hoping. Best, Neil