Residential school survivors to walk from Allan Bird Centre to La Ronge
In winter 2015, residential school survivor and cultural support worker Tom Roberts of Lac La Ronge Indian Band approached his elders with an idea he had been formulating since summer time.
“We never came home… I want to walk from Prince Albert (where the school is) to La Ronge, so I can be home on my own terms,” Roberts said. “We were forcefully taken away, and some have never been able to go home. I wanted to organize something to help in the recovery process, to take the anger away when we talk about this.”
The response was positive from Prince Albert elder Howard Walker: “Now, there is no one to tell you that you cannot do this,” he said.
Starting on National Aboriginal Day, June 21, a group of residential school survivors will depart from the Senator Allan Bird Center on Prince Albert Grand Council and end in up in La Ronge on June 25. A smaller group will continue the trek from La Ronge to Stanley Mission where a welcome feast and festivities will conclude the epic journey.