TELILE 24/7 PODCAST #18: Residential School Remembrances & Pandemic-Era Pride Month

STRAIT AREA - The newest TELILE 24/7 Podcast examines a number of events that took place during the late spring and early summer around the Strait area, which had a different look and feel than the ceremonies typically held at this time of year in the Strait of Canso.

On July 1, marches of remembrance were held at three Mi'kmaq communities in rural Cape Breton to mark the recent discoveries of the remains of hundreds of children at residential schools sites in western Canada. Orange shirts were worn by those marching between Victoria County's Wagmatcook First Nation and Inverness County's We'kmoqma'q First Nation along Trans-Canada Highway 105. as well as those that marched between the community hall and the elementary school building in Richmond County's Potlotek First Nation.

Speaking to those who came to the Mi'kmawey School at the halfway point of their community's march, Potlotek First Nation Chief Wilbert Marshall and Potlotek Elders Robert Pictou and Bernadette Marshall recalled their own experiences, and those of their families and friends, in residential schools around the Maritimes.

"Canada Day means nothing to me," Bernadette Marshall declared.

The initial discovery of 215 children's remains at the former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. sparked Port Hawkesbury Mi'kmaq activist Bryson Syliiboy to join forces with that town's mayor, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, to have Canadian and provincial flags lowered outside of the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre for 215 hours. Their campaign reached municipalities across Nova Scotia, who also held a similar flag-lowering. Civic Centre officials will keep their flags lowered for the remainder of July to honour the memory of the 751 children whose remains were found at another residential school site in Saskatchewan before the end of June. 

Pride Month ceremonies also took a different look in the Strait Area due to the low gathering limits imposed by Nova Scotia Public Health officials during the latest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, a second consecutive edition of the Strait Area Pride Rally could not take place. However, Port Hawkesbury Pride Month organizer Taylor Linloff partnered with town council on a number of online initiatives, as well as a flag-raising ceremony outside of the Civic Centre in early June.

Linloff and Mayor Chisholm-Beaton also encouraged town residents to paint stones and other small objects with rainbows and similar Pride messages and leave them at a town-owned fountain near Grant's Pond, which was dubbed "The Fountain of Love" during the remainder of Pride Month.