Indigenous Alberta

Last week the remains of 215 First Nation children were found in a mass grave at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC.

More than 130 government-funded, church-run residential schools were established to sever children from their families, and assimilate and shame them for their culture, language and spirituality. 

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run residential schools across Canada between the 1870s and 1996, when the last school closed.

"We are grieving. We know there are questions out there, but right now we need to grieve, to be there for and with one another, to share our stories, our songs, our prayers, our tears, our support. We will get to those questions, but for now we mourn."

In April, the Sovereign Nations of Treaty Eight wrote a letter to Premier Jason Kenney calling for the draft to be significantly revised, which Laboucan signed, citing the “deeply offensive” and “glaring absence” of First Nations people from the writing process.  

Wilson said people are now more aware of Indian residential schools because of the news of the 215 children buried in the mass grave.

Bear’s girlfriend, Lenasia Ned, announced that the Indigenous defence man had been receiving racist messages and comments from disgruntled Oilers fans who blamed the entirety of the loss on Bear.

For more than a century, First Nations children were separated from their families and made to attend residential schools in an attempt to assimilate.

Hundreds gathered at Alberta Legislature over the weekend, joining memorials across the country in recognition of mass grave discovered at a former B.C. residential school.

"I really believe that as a community we have to reach out. We're all equal. We're all important. We all have something to offer the community, and we all bleed red."