The Chief of Cowessess First Nation says they weren’t ready for the support they needed to give following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves.
In June, 751 unmarked graves were found at the site of the former Marieval Residential School on Cowessess. 300 individuals in the graves have since been identified.
In the aftermath of the discovery Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme says he learned three things. One of himself and two of where he believes Canada is at in reconciliation efforts.
“Of myself, as calm and cool as I tried to be, I kept focusing on the end goal, and thinking of my 5-year-old daughter,” said Delorme. “I made sure all my messages about this were about bridge-building, about how we share this together and how we must stand by each other… it really affected me personally.”
In the days following the discovery, Delorme says his office was flooded with calls and messages from survivors and others seeking support both mentally and emotionally.
“Many people reached out to me personally as their chief… and it was overwhelming,” said Delorme. “It made me realize in Indigenous nations our capacity to address these core situations is lacking and we have to be more prepared to help one another.”
Delorme says Cowessess has adjusted since then to provide the necessary supports, but they weren’t ready at the beginning.
Thirdly, Delorme says he was overwhelmed by the interest in the story from Canada and the world.
“We felt that it was a story that was needed to tell and the truth needed to come out,” said Delorme. “There are Roman Catholic goers in this grave-site, there are Indigenous adults in this grave-site, but there are children who attended this residential school at this grave-site.”
“Canada is in a moment of reflection and in 20 years from now we are going to look back and ask ourselves what did we do.”
Delorme made the comments during his keynote address at the Wicihitowin Indigenous Engagement Conference in Saskatoon. He spoke on many topics including the discovery of the unmarked grave-sites, Cowessess’ taking over jurisdiction of their children in care, better engagement for Indigenous business and the importance of Indigenous ideologies and philosophies in manners of reconciliation.
(PHOTO: A screenshot of Cadmus Delorme during his presentation.)