Messages supporting residential school survivors make up 'Healing Forest'

Handmade hearts containing messages of hope and love transformed a popular river valley trail intothe city's first "Healing Forest."

More than 1,000 hearts linethe trail in honour of thoseaffected by the legacy of residential schools in Alberta and across the country.

"I want to put a face to reconciliation," said Miranda Jimmy, co-founder ofReconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton, or RISE."I want people to understand this is a present day issue. It's not an issue of our past."

Jimmy attributes many of the difficult times in her life to the impact of residential schools on family members.

Healing Forest gives a place for reflection

8 years ago

Duration 0:49

More than 1,000 handmade hearts with messages of support for residential school survivors were placed in Edmonton's river valley over the weekend.

In 2008, Stephen Harper, then prime minister,apologized to former students and their families for the neglect and abuse they suffered.

Now several years later, Jimmy is hoping the colourful hearts lining the River Valley Road Trail between Groat Road and the High Level Bridge will catch people's attention and lead to better understanding.

"I hope it causes people to pause and reflect and I hope it sparks action and calls people to do something more," said Jimmy who welcomedEdmontonians to make their own hearts and add them to the installation.

More than 200 people helped make the hearts using a range of materials including wood, paper andcardboard. Some wereeven crocheted.

Volunteers decorated the treeswith the hearts Saturday.

The messageson the hearts express hope for the future as well as regret about the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

One simply reads "Sorry." Another, "I hope to heal."

They were originally made in 2015 by childrenas young as threeto seniorsin their 90sas part of a heart garden following a call to action by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The hearts are now featured in what Jimmy and other organizers hope will be a permanent memorial in Edmonton.

"The hearts will stay here hopefully for as long as nature allows," said Sara Komarnisky, a member of RISE.

The group has been working with the City of Edmonton's CityLab, a department that looks for new ways of using public spaces.

While initially made to acknowledge residential school survivors, the idea is for the Healing Forest to be a place of reflection for missing and murdered Indigenous women as well as for children taken from their homes by the child welfare system.

"There's something about the setting here along the river just encountering something so poignant or beautiful or sad or hopeful. I think a lot of people will connect with this healing forest," said Komarnisky.

A sign on the trail directs people to social media sites where they can learn more about the project.

The group RISE is hoping to add commemorative plaques and benches to the trail in the future.