Episode 53: Marie Wilson - The Mass Grave at Kamloops Residential School
Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry BellegardeShow Notes
***The subject matter and content of this episode may not be suitable for all listeners*** "We did hear of children's bones being found in the foundations of buildings when (Residential) schools were dismantled. We heard of children being thrown into furnaces. These were children. The little ones who have woken up in Kamloops this week, these are children calling out to all of us now." Marie Wilson, former Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated crimes and abuses against Indigenous children at Residential Schools in Canada, joins the Ahkameyimok Podcast from Yellowknife to discuss the shocking find of a mass grave of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The grave was found on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School at the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia. Dr Wilson discusses her feelings on hearing of the the Kamloops mass grave, her memories of visiting that site as Commissioner, why her work on the TRC from 2009 to 2015 means she is shocked but not surprised by this mass grave and believes there are many more like it across Canada that need to be investigated, and why she believes the Pope and Catholic church, which ran the majority of the Residential Schools, needs to apologize for its role in what the TRC described as cultural genocide. National Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419 For more on Residential Schools and the work of the Assembly of First Nations, please visit AFN.ca The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions Our theme music is performed by the Red Dog Singers.
More from Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde
This conversation with the late Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, was originally posted in August 2020.
Bryan Trottier needs little introduction. The Hockey Hall of Fame player was a key member and leading scorer for the New York Islanders Stanley Cup dynasty of the 1980's, and then with Pittsburgh Penguins of the early 90's. He is also incredibly proud of his Cree-Metis-Chippewa heritage, and his hometown of Val Marie in southern Saskatchewan. In this fun and fascinating conversation, he talks with Perry Bellegarde about learning to play hockey on the beaver pond on his family ranch, playing bass in his father's country band, his parents advice on overcoming racism as a young hockey player, how the infamous Dave "Tiger" Williams saved his hockey career as a junior player at Swift Current, and of course, his key role in the NY Islanders Cup wins from 1980 to 1983. This is an interview to savour. Bryan's new best selling memoir is called "All Roads Home: A Life On and Off the Ice." The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa.Our theme music is performed by the Red Dog Singers of Treaty Four Territory in Saskatchewan.
The host of the popular CBC Kuper Island Podcast on the challenges and revelations from reporting about one of Canada's most notorious Residential Schools.
Chief Perry is thrilled to be joined Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Stobo Sniderman for a fascinating and thoughtful conversation about their new book, "The Valley of the Birdtail." It is a heart-rending, true story about racism and reconciliation. Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope. DOUGLAS SANDERSON (AMO BINASHII) is the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and has served as a senior policy advisor to Ontario’s attorney general and minister of Indigenous affairs. He is Swampy Cree, Beaver clan, of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. ANDREW STOBO SNIDERMAN is a writer, lawyer, and Rhodes Scholar from Montreal. He has written for the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and Maclean’s. He has also argued before the Supreme Court of Canada, served as the human rights policy advisor to the Canadian minister of foreign affairs, and worked for a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
"The survivors felt if this had been white children, the community wouldn't be the ones having to investigate their own genocide." - Kimberly Murray