Family and Community Gather to Honour Children of Red Deer Industrial School
Posted on: Oct 07, 2017
Richard Lightning and his daughter Kaia Lamothe pay their respects at Red Deer Cemetery. September 28th, 2017.
On Wednesday September 29th, Indigenous leaders and community members gathered in Red Deer for the unveiling of a memorial stone acknowledging the previously unmarked graves of four Aboriginal students who died at the Red Deer Industrial School. The names of the children buried at the Red Deer Cemetery are: David Lightning, Georgina House, Sarah Soosay, and Jane Baptiste. They are believed to be from Samson Cree Nation and perhaps from Paul Nation.
The day’s schedule included community stories, a remembering the children prayer led by Shannon McCarthy (Executive Secretary, Alberta and Northwest Conference, The United Church of Canada), and an address from MNA Committee Member and Vice President of the Remembering the Children Society, Muriel Stanley Venne. The day culminated at Red Deer Cemetery where emotional family and community members gathered around the stone to pay their respects.
Creation of the monument was led by the Remembering the Children Society. Its President, Richard Lightning, is the only known relative of any of the children who perished in 1918. He is David Lightning’s nephew.
Remembering the Children Society Contact:
Vice President, Muriel Stanley-Venne, 780-479-3634, murielv@shaw.ca
Secretary, Rev. Cecile Fausak. 780-675-7753, cecilefausak@telus.net