Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

316 • Truth & Reconciliation CommissionThere is also a need for information sharing with the families of those who died atthe schools. As the historical record indicates, families were not adequately informedof the health condition of their children. There is a need for the federal government toensure that appropriate measures are undertaken to inform families of the fate of theirchildren and to ensure that the children are commemorated in a way that is acceptableto their families.Calls to Action73) We call upon the federal government to work with churches, Aboriginal communities,and former residential school students to establish and maintain an onlineregistry of residential school cemeteries, including, where possible, plot mapsshowing the location of deceased residential school children.74) We call upon the federal government to work with the churches and Aboriginalcommunity leaders to inform the families of children who died at residentialschools of the child’s burial location, and to respond to families’ wishes forappropriate commemoration ceremonies and markers, and reburial in home communitieswhere requested.As Commissioners, we have been honoured to bear witness to commemorationceremonies held by communities to remember and honour children who died in theresidential schools. Such ceremonies have played an important role in the reconciliationprocess. At the Alberta National Event, the board members of the Rememberingthe Children Society offered an expression of reconciliation. They spoke about theprocess they undertook to identify children who had died while attending the RedDeer Industrial School. Richard Lightning said,My father, Albert Lightning, and his younger brother, David, from Samson FirstNation, went to the Red Deer Industrial School, which was operated by theMethodist Church from 1893 to 1919. Albert Lightning survived this schoolexperience, but David died of Spanish flu in 1918. In 1986, Albert visited theRed Deer and District Museum and Archives, saying to the staff person, LyleKeewatin-Richards, “Oh, there you are. You’re the one who is going to find mylittle brother.” Lyle learned that along with three other students who had diedat the same time, David was buried in the Red Deer City Cemetery. Lyle alsobecame aware of the existence of the school cemetery beside Sylvan Creek.Rev. Cecile Fausak 164 explained,Around 2004 … people at Sunnybrook United Church began to ask themselves,“Is there anything we can do to build better relations with First Nations peoplesin this area?” And Lyle, remembering back, suggested then, “There is this littleproject. The children who were buried at the long-neglected [residential] school