Key takeaways:
- ‘It started some of our families. It’s like making an open wound again.’
- A memorial in North Vancouver for six years to observe survivors and victims of St. Paul’s residential school was damaged.
Old wounds reopened:
A memorial in North Vancouver committed to survivors and victims of the St. Paul’s Residential School has been damaged, reopening old wounds for associates of the Squamish Nation.
The monument has stood near the corner of Forbes and Sixth Street for almost six years.
It features a mannish figure stretching out its arms in welcome, but as of this week, the ceremonial figure’s arm is missing below the elbow.
“The memorial itself realizes and celebrates, recognizes our survivors and commemorates the ones we’ve lost, the kids we’ve lost at the residential school itself,” stated Wilson Williams, an elected councilor for the Squamish Nation. Source – cbc.ca
Williams states the First Nation saw out regarding the destruction from the artists who made it.
He states the news was quite disturbing to his community in the path of the Williams Lake First Nation, declaring earlier this week that it had identified 93 sites of “potential human burials” on the ground covering a former B.C. residential school.
“It triggered some of our families,” he stated. “It’s like making an open wound again.” Source – cbc.ca
The missing arm has yet to be found.
