On Sept. 30, from the first light of dawn until the setting of the sun, a sea of orange filled Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Hundreds of people gathered for the ceremonial opening of the Spirit Garden, a living monument and memorial to honour the survivors of Residential Schools and the children whose lives were taken. Ava Hill spoke in the opening ceremonies that the monument is permanent. “This is going to be here forever now,” she said. The longevity of the sculpted stones depicting a turtle climbing over obstacles, the Inukshuk, the canoe and teaching lodge – all sacred symbols created to withstand every element and to permanently stand for that which could not be erased by colonization: the resilience and enduring vitality of Indigenous peoples.
The memorial is a fulfillment of Toronto’s responsibility to Call to Action #82 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to create “publicly accessible, highly visible Residential Schools monuments in each capital city to honour survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities.” Ava Hill continued: “This Spirit Garden is in response to this call to action.” The crowd erupted in cheers. The Spirit Garden, and the stories and teachings it carries, will not be erased and will stand for generations to come.
All day the sound of children’s laughter intermingled with the testimonies of survivors, the heartbeat of drums, the smell of sacred medicines, and the vibrancy of ribbon skirts, shirts and ceremonial regalia. As I spoke with survivors, diocesan staff, clergy, bishops, friends and community members, what struck everyone was the joy of seeing so many children and young people present. Being surrounded by little ones from daycares and children visiting from nearby schools, their radiant joy and curiosity, their empathy and care, underlined the testimonies survivors shared at the opening of the Spirit Garden.
Survivors harrowingly spoke of being taken from their loving parents when they were so young that they did not know them until they reconnected 30 or 40 years later. A survivor named Clara spoke of meeting her siblings as adults. “They were like strangers to me,” she said. Taken from her mother in 1963, Clara said, “I never knew my mother until I met her in the early ‘90s.” Survivors echoed this heartbreaking reality of growing up in a cold and abusive institution, without the loving care of their parents, siblings and grandparents, graduating from Residential School and feeling completely alone in the world. Survivors remembered siblings who died at Residential School and the grief of their parents who were never given any information about what happened to their children.
Gord Peters placed the testimonies of survivors in historical context, reminding those present that 40 per cent of children who attended Residential Schools did not survive to graduate. He stated: “Canada calls this a dark chapter. It’s not a dark chapter: it’s Canadian history. Canadians have to accept and change that history. There’s a long road to recovery for our people but we are well on our way.”
That road of recovery and revitalization is memorialized in the monument as a turtle climbing over rocks and obstacles. Carved in stone below the turtle are the names of 18 federally funded Residential Schools that operated in Ontario. As the turtle climbs, it symbolizes cultural recovery over the horrific legacy of Residential Schools. The turtle symbolizes the first mother – mother earth – and symbolizes the rightful place of Indigenous people in creation. The courage of the turtle to continue to climb over obstacles symbolizes the strength and perseverance of survivors, who courageously shattered the silence of abuse and testified on the international stage at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Michael Cheena, a survivor who travelled with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for four years, and a proud member of St. John the Baptist, Norway in Toronto, said, “The Residential School system was a national crime, it was a national secret… I want to recognize the survivors, the courage of the survivors, who carried their childhood wounds into their adult lives and have lived to tell the truth of this day.” Survivors broke through the oppression of this “national secret.” Through the 94 Calls to Action, survivors have marked a pathway forward for justice and healing for all peoples on this land.
The Spirit Garden will be animated throughout the year, with its sacred teaching lodge full of the stories, languages, traditional teachings, histories and cultures that Residential Schools sought to silence. Elder the Rev. Canon Andrew Wesley shared that the teaching that will happen at the Spirit Garden will not only support Indigenous people in their cultural revitalization, but also educate all people about what happened in Residential Schools, that they might “understand and help be called into action.” The Diocese of Toronto invested in the Spirit Garden, in partnership with Toronto Council Fire, that we might fulfill our responsibilities to Indigenous peoples in Call to Action #82.
Survivors spoke throughout the opening of the Spirit Garden of how frustrating it is for them that so few of the Calls to Action have been fulfilled. This year, let us keep this summons at the centre of our hearts, let us spend time in prayer, memorial and dialogue at the Spirit Garden, as we seek to honour our responsibilities to all 94 Calls to Action. Concluding the opening ceremony of the Spirit Garden, Gord Peters closed with this blessing: “May your families be healthy and strong, and may we carry on our responsibilities.” Amen.
Epistle unaffected by Paul’s theology