An indigeous woman from Airdrie is planning a demostration tomorrow (June 13) outside the St. Pauls Catholic Church in Airdrie as she tries to draw attention to the plight of survivours of the Residential School System in Canada and to elicit an apology from the Catholic Church over its the church's involvement in that system.  

Amber Ward and her two children will demonstrate outside of the church and hopes church members along with members of the community will join them.

"The reason I'm starting here is because our Prime Minister's request for an apology from the Pope fell on deaf ears and I thought, if the higher-ups aren't getting it done, maybe it needs to start in reverse, from the ground up.  It is an invitation to the churches locally to stand with us as we demand the apology that is long overdue."

Ward and members of her family will stand outside the church at 10:30 am to draw attention to her concerns, and those of so many other Indigenous Canadians.  She says that this is how a ground up movement begins.

35-year-old Ward is Cree and German in heritage.  She grew up in Saskatchewan and was raised in a strict Christian home and sau that her indigenous roots were often viewed negatively.

"The message I received was it's okay to be Cree and you should be proud of it, but you can't practice in it because that part of it is evil.  So I grew up thinking that half of me was bad. As more and more comments came from teachers or friends or just other people, every comment solidified that belief that part of me was bad."

Ward explains that the racism that she received she internalized.  Then, in her 20's she met someone she calls, "the most beautiful spirit I've ever met" who showed Ward how to balance culture and spirituality in a wayd that made sense to her and opened a door to let her look into her life.  She first felt that she wasn't "native enough" to really engage but as she continued to examine things and reach out to her band in Saskatchewan, things started to make sense.

Ward says when she heard the news that the bodies of 215 indigenous children had been located at the Kamloops Residential School it was devastating.  However, it turned out to be at the right time as she continued to find her voice as the story unfolded.    

"I've spent 35 years being relatively quiet but I realized now that I have a voice and I'm a survivour of my own experiences.  My mom was a 60's Scoop survivour, my grandparents were survivours of Residential Schools.  In Saskatchewan.  The last Residential School closed in 1996.  I was ten years old and if my mom hadn't been scooped, there's a real possibility that I myself could have been in the Residential Schools>'

 When Ward heard the news of those lost children it crushed her.  "I fell apart.  It broke something in me."

Ward sought out answers and some came from another First Nations woman.  "She said we, as First Nations people are tied to our ancestors and we feel when things like this come forward, that we are tied to them.  Even though they didn't make it home, their stories and their spirits are with us.  It made something inside me say 'that's enough.  I'm tired of not standing up.  I'm tired of being a bystander." 

Ward says since the children don't have a voice, "I can be a voice for them because I'm here and I'm capable."

If 215 children aren't enough to elicit an apology from the Catholic Church, Ward wonders what is?  "So far that number isn't 150,000, the number of children taken from their homes.  That number's not 3,200, the number of deaths reported.  Or, it hasn't been 6,000 which is the number of estimated deaths of the children.  It also wasn't the 7,000 survivors who have shared their stories.  You're invited to join with us to demand that apology.  Stand with us."

Ward and her children will be outside the church in "Every Child Matters" orange shirts.  She invites anyone planning to join them at the demonstration to bring along a pair of children's shoes, for the 215 Indigenous children who never made it home.   

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