'First step in reconciliation' as government hands over residential school cemetery

The grounds housing a cemetery where some three dozen Indigenous children who died while attending Regina's Indian Industrial School (RIIS) are buried have been transferred from the federal government to a group sworn to protect the sacred land, more than 100 years after the residential school closed.

MP Ralph Goodale, RCMP commissioner Brenda Luckiand the RIIS Commemorative Association made the transfer official during a ceremony at the property outside of Regina on Tuesday.

Descendants of students, elders from surrounding First Nationsalong withprovincial and municipal dignitaries tookpart in the commemorative ceremony, which included prayers, speeches and a drum circle.

The names of the First Nations from which students were taken were read aloud by children.

"It's the start to a new era of reconciliation,"said Sarah Longman, president of the RIIS Commemorative Association, the new owners.

Longman said she would like to erect a memorial to the children who diedand, more importantly, a tribute to their descendentsto ensure people never forget the impact the school had on Canada's Indigenous population.

Gaining ownershipof the one-acre plot took years.

"It's been a physical journey, it's been an emotional journey and it's been a very spiritual journey," Longman said.

The school, which opened in 1891 and closed in 1910,was operated by the Presbyterian Church of Canada through the Foreign Mission Committee,built on about 129 hectares of farm land on Wascana Creek, about six kilometresnorthwest of Regina.

Debbie Hill's grandparents went to the school.She said the gravesites are close to her heart because she knows the children buried there could have beentheir friends or relatives.

"As a mother and as a grandmother, I can't imagine my children or grandchildren being buried without being recognized as to who they are or where they're buried," said Hill.

The cemetery land was privately owned for decades. But in 2017, it was officially given heritage status by the province.That new designation protectedthe site from being altered, unless provincial and municipal approval was granted.

"None of that is a substitute for outright ownership and the ability then to take the actions in and around the property to properly protect it," Goodale said."This is a whole-of-society effort and wherever an opportunity presents itself to contribute to reconciliation, we should all be happy to participate."

Goodale and the RCMP worked together to come up with a unique solution. The RCMPowned anadjacent piece ofland. They arranged to swap an equal plot with the private landowner so that the cemetery and border around it could be transferred.

"The RCMP have not a very good history in rounding up kids and putting them in residential school, my dad being one of them," said Hill."For them to take this step, I think it's a very honourable and wonderful step to take."

According to the Saskatchewan government, the cemetery grounds contain the graves of about 35 children from First Nations and Mtis communities in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

The way the students died is not clear, and Longmansaid it's possible the truth may never be known.

"We know that there were illnesses, we know that there were abuses that took place, weknow that there were many, many children with broken hearts," she said. "So it could be a combination of all three."

Longman she plans to apply to have the property designated as a federal heritage status.