Silenced no more: Indigenous languages celebrated at site of former residential school

Languages once suppressed at the Assiniboia Residential School have now returned to the site.

More than 100 people gathered Tuesday at 621 Academy Rd., on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, for a ceremony unveiling three plaques near the former school.

The plaques are written in Anishinaabemowin, Anishininimowin, Cree, Dakota, Dene, English and French — reflecting the languages spoken by children who attended the school.

“It’s very important, and it can also be quite emotional,” said Darian McKinney, a board member for the Assiniboia Residential School Legacy Group, whose grandparents were residential school survivors.

“Growing up, (those languages) were something that was non-existent. My grandparents, specifically, did not teach my father the language because of the threat of being taken away by residential schools. Just knowing that’s why I don’t know the language is heartbreaking.”

McKinney said his grandparents’ first language was Anishinaabemowin.

“Going to (Sandy Bay Residential School), it was forbidden,” he said. “And they didn’t speak it after that, although they’ve definitely reclaimed it and speak it more now.”

The Assiniboia Residential School operated from 1958 to 1973 in a repurposed building that had served as a children’s home and later a veterans’ hospital.

Run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Grey Nuns of Montréal, it was federally funded and part of Canada’s policy of forced assimilation. Inspections in the 1960s cited overcrowding and unsafe conditions.

The residential school system removed Indigenous children from their cultures and families, causing deep harm and has been recognized by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as cultural genocide.

“Our relatives and ancestors have a fire spirit within them,” said Toni Kipling, executive director of the legacy group. “This fire provided the strength, resilience and love to endure the pain and injustices while they were uprooted and forced to attend residential schools. It is because of their bravery and strength, we are still here.”

Liberal MP Ben Carr said he grew up only a few blocks from the former school but knew little about it.

“Residential school history was not widespread … and certainly we did not have knowledge of places like this existing in our own backyard,” Carr said. “We were not exposed, as white kids in this part of town, to Indigenous communities, never mind understanding the past in the present.”

He said his young niece, who attended the event, will learn what he did not.

“The importance of places like this, the sign that remains here, the memorial, the commemorative plaques being placed here today, all play a very critical role in ensuring that kids like my niece, and even adults not familiar with this history, can move forward with a deeper understanding of where we’ve come from and where we have to go,” he said.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca