On the occasion of the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the Robertson Library extends an open invitation to the campus and Island communities to visit, and reflect upon, the Aboriginal Survivors for Healing display in our main lobby, paying tribute to the Mi’kmaw children taken from their homes in Epekwitk to the “Indian” Residential School in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. A selection of books by and about First Nations’ peoples, and the ongoing work of reconciliation, accompanies this display.
In June 2013, the Library was honoured to accept this display, on behalf of the University, as a donation from Aboriginal Survivors for Healing, Inc. (ASH), an organization that worked with “Shubie School” survivors in Epekwitk for more than a decade through the early 2000s [click here to see The Guardian front-page story on the donation]. The display incorporates a number of elements, including images of students from Epekwitk at the Shubenacadie school, reproduced courtesy of the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island and Shubenacadie survivor Grace Tuplin. Also included is the text of the Government of Canada’s 2008 Statement of Apology for the great harms inflicted by the residential school system over more than a century of operation, from the 1870s through to the 1990s. In addition, survivor Charlotte Labobe-Morris of Lennox Island First Nation contributed a set of keys from the Shubenacadie school building, given to her by a former caretaker.
The most notable element of the display, however, is the underlying quilt, with squares stitched by 16 Shubenacadie survivors from Epekwitk, sharing memories of their residential school experience.
The survivors who contributed to the quilt were:
Katherine Archer Becky Julian
Christine Bernard Margaret Labobe
Doreen Bernard Charlotte Labobe-Morris
Mary Hatfield Annette Lewis
Marcella Hiller Janet MacDonald
Genevieve Johnson Pat Simonson
Jenny Rose Johnson Patricia Stephens
Lottie Johnson Marlene Thomas
We acknowledge them, ASH, and all Epekwitk’s residential school survivors, for their beautiful and courageous contributions to the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation journey.
If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-866-925-4419.
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