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Ottawa Rock Art

20 June 2021 21:44

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2021
Hommage aux enfants perdus, bienvenue chez vous.
Homage to the lost children, welcome to your home.

The Canadian Residential School revelation of that year
has inspired the theme for this project.

The project site is on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, and a resting place for the souls of the lost children of the Residential School system.

The sysyem was designed to remove children from thier land and families. During the years at the schools, they were indoctrinated into Christian values, without contact with their families or homeland.

Once released from the schools, the children had lost thier native language, and the traditions inherant to survive on the land and re-integrate with the communities.
Most were unable to survive on the reserves without these skills, and relocated in the other areas of the country, where they were racially rejected in the culture that they were taught to exist.

In essence, they became a 'people' without a nation while on the only land they had known for thousands of years.

In 2022, Pope Francis visited the Cree Nation to formerly apologize for the errors of the church he represented.
The Anglican Churh and government of Canada were also invloved. The discovvery of 'unmarked graves' on the residential school grounds, was the result of the 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada' between 2008 to 2015.

In Jume of 2021, September 30th was distinguished as "National Day for Truth & Reconciliation", and is also also known as "Orange Shirt Day", as a rememberance of the children who never returned home..

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Edited videos by permission; published September 2021.

video 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Xb0EcSu1E

video 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zxkIqc9N_4

video 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Fa4vm9_0k