Organizer Dustin Haaland, front right, and supporters participate in a run off Highway 4 to start the walk in North Battleford. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Raising Awareness

Solidarity Walk/Run on Canada Day aims to remember, honour children of residential schools

Jul 2, 2021 | 8:59 AM

A group of supporters took to the streets Thursday for the Every Child Matters Solidarity Walk/Run in the North Battleford area on Canada Day.

Dustin Haaland organized the event.

“I wanted to do the walk on Canada Day to bring awareness,” he told battlefordsNOW. “It’s not a time to be celebrating the country we live in, it’s a time for mourning. It’s a time for us to support our Indigenous community, and come together.”

Haaland said he also wanted to show the Indigenous community that people care.

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“We want to make a change. For the younger generations, we want to create positive change, and come together as a community to do so,” he said.

Participants walk through North Battleford on July 1. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

Haaland, along with Shalen Fox and other supporters, started the event by running from Whiterock Gas and Confectionary, along Highway 4 to North Battleford. Many people followed in their vehicles along the highway. In North Battleford, more supporters joined for the walk through the downtown area.

The event was a response to recent findings of thousands of unmarked graves at former residential school sites in Canada. A total of 751 unmarked graves were found at the site near the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation in southeast Saskatchewan. In B.C., 215 children were found buried at the former Kamloops residential school site. A ground search for potential unmarked graves is currently underway at the site of the former St. Henri Residential School in the Delmas area.

The Solidarity Walk organizers created a GoFundMe Page to raise funds for the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

“Let’s come together and show our support for the Indigenous community; let’s honour the memories of the children lost, who didn’t come home,” Haaland said.

Organizers and supporters gather for Solidarity Walk in North Battleford. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

Shalen Fox, a local teacher and advocate for youth, who also took part in the run and walk said he hopes the event helps raise awareness.

“The residential school [history] is unheard of for lots of our Canadians,” he told battlefordsNOW. “So to bring awareness and bring the truth out is what we need to start the Truth and Reconciliation [work]. You can’t have reconciliation, without the truth.”

Fox said it was an honour to be part of the Solidarity Walk/Run with everyone involved, and see “all the support here in the Battlefords.”

Awareness walk/ride from Delmas on July 1

A separate group took part in a walk/horseback ride Thursday from the site of the former residential school in the Delmas area, to just outside of Battleford on Canada Day.

One of the organizers, Crystal J. Tootoosis, said the event was held to honour the children of residential schools and the survivors. The aim was also to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The all-day walk/ride concluded close to 7 p.m.

See battlefordsNOW for more on the Delmas event.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow