Students learn about National Truth and Reconciliation Day at Beechwood Cemetery
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a day of learning and confronting hard truths, and some schools in Ottawa attended the Beechwood Cemetery on Monday to understand the legacy of residential schools.
Painting in her pink heart carefully, 11-year-old student Sophie Killough says it’s a simple message. "Everyone should know that every child is special," she said. "No matter what they look like or who they are." Sophie and her classmates at École au Coeur d’Ottawa are just a few of the dozens of students at the cemetery on Orange Shirt Day.
When the painted rock leaves her hands, it will lay in the Children’s Sacred Forest, a monument dedicated to the children who never returned from residential schools. "I just thought it would be a good idea to show that every child matters," she said.
In the residential school system, more than 150,000 children were taken from their families and at least 6,000 children died during that time, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.