They Were Children

As of June 23, 2021, a count of 1323 unmarked graves were found. Graves of Children. Children who were daughters, sons, cousins, grandchildren and friends. And this number will continue to grow...

The largest, so far, mass grave was recently found on Cowessess First Nations. 715 Children. They were just Children...

They were taken from homes, and sometimes even voluntarily sent by parents and caregivers, in hopes that they would succeed in the new coming world ahead of them. A majority of these Children were seen off by their families and communities, and a majority of these Children would never be seen again.

It breaks my heart and hurts, for me to think of all these Children who will never find peace. Who were away from their homes, crying out for help, trapped in a place they did not know?

To be completely blunt, all these Children ended up dying alone. Scared and feeling betrayed. Abused, in every way imaginable, forced to forget who they were. These Children were forced to read, write and talk like their abusers. They couldn't escape the pain and emotions they felt. Conform, or die was their choice. Laws were set into place to protect Children, but not our peoples children...

Families, parents and communities will never get the closure they deserve. They will never see their children. Because they were hidden, buried away with the intention of never being found. And it hurts me to know, that we will never find every single Child. Children that are lost forever...

(It's hard not to place blame as I write this, but I am trying.)

Killing the Indian in the Child...

In 2008, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, had issued an apology on behalf of Canada, to the survivors of the Residential Schools.

That was it, just an apology.

We as a peoples, continue to feel the effects of Residential Schools today. Most times, we're viewed as alcoholics, drug addicts and people living off welfare. "Living off tax dollars".

The foster care system, is another system that continues to fail our peoples today. Being biased, because I have lived my entire youth in this system. It set me up for failure, and pushed me to the streets as soon as it could. I had to learn and deal with drug and alcohol abuse on my own. The same system that was set up to keep me alive until I was 17, did not care if I died after I signed that paper releasing me from the system...

Northern communities still go without clean, drinkable water. Food prices, access to medical care, racial profiling, access to education and land reclamation are issues that we STILL face in 2021. And now, our peoples have to suffer and deal with the mass graves of our forgotten Children.

Oil pipelines built on lands, given to our peoples by the government, are more important than providing a basic human need, to humans in need. Protestors who oppose these same pipelines, are criminalized, trialed and forcibly shut down...for protecting the land given to them. Given to them, by the same people who are building these pipelines.

We have learned, because of intergenerational trauma, to cope with drugs and alcohol. To do the bare minimum to stay alive, to forget our culture, our traditions and our identity. I refuse to believe in a future where we are completely forgotten.

I'm not saying that we need to cancel Canada Day, which is going to upset a lot of my relations. But we as Indigenous peoples, need the government to acknowledge this absolute disgusting and heartbreaking tragedy. We need this government, who helped create these schools, to also help heal the damage it has caused. 1 Child, is too many Children. With each passing day, the numbers will continue to rise.

My heart is sore, and my emotions are weak. They were children...Our Children.

They were failed, forgotten and ignored. The country set up to protect its own people, have failed these children.

They were Children.

-Daniel Kwandibens