Residential school students remembered in Alberta

The names of more than 300 children who attended a central Alberta residential school were read out at a remembrance ceremony Wednesday on the banks of the Red Deer River.

The students who came from Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan attended the Methodist-run Red Deer Industrial School between 1893 and 1919. Some of the names that were read were of students who were buried at a nearby cemetery.

"We need to do this ceremony. It's so important," Wilton Littlechild, a commissioner on Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said to acrowd which included descendants of students who attended the school.

"I really, really thank you for doing it because sometimes we forget about them. We forget about the young children. Forget about the young spirits who we need to acknowledge here, so they can finish their journey to the spirit world."

The graves, which have been preserved by a private landowner, are the final resting place for as many as 65 students and staff. It's believed many of them died from tuberculosis and influenza.

Ceremony a chance for healing

Nelson Hart, 59, travelled from Manitoba to honour his great aunt, Ellen Hart, who was buried in the cemetery after she died in 1903.

"A ceremony like this is important to acknowledge those that have passed on," he said.

In 2005, members of Sunnybrook United Church in Red Deer started to research what happened to the students buried in the cemetery, with about 12being identified so far.

Rev. Cecile Fausak with the United Church of Canada helped organize the event with more than half a dozen First Nations. She said the ceremony is an opportunity for healing.

"Being able to meet people and come to them and say, 'We're sorry. Here's as much information as we can provide. We want to walk with you in the journey forward,'" she said.

Fausak says she was touched by the grace and lack of anger she encountered while working with First Nations to organize Wednesday's ceremony.