Indigenous leaders gather in Drayton Valley to discuss reconciliation

Dr. Wilton Littlechild speaks after the signing of a bilateral agreement between Louis Bull Tribe and the Government of Canada to support Bill C-92, in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton on Wednesday February 1, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Reconciliaction was the word of the evening at the Truth and Reconciliation event held last Monday at the Drayton Valley Omniplex.

Last minute guest, Chief Willie Littlechild, a residential school survivor who was born in Maskwacis and later went on to be an MP and a member of the Order of Canada, gave the land acknowledgement for the evening.

“It's really an honour for me to be able to do that here, because I really value what you are doing to advance good relations among each other,” said Littlechild.

He spoke about his childhood and his gratitude for his grandparents who raised him. They both taught him the Cree language and the importance of higher education, which was why he went on to get a law degree in 1976, later becoming Member of Parliament for Wetaskiwin.

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Littlechild was part of the commission that was charged by the courts to go out amongst the Indigenous peoples and listen to the stories of former residential school students.

He says they heard from 7,000 families affected by the system. The commissioners were also charged with coming up with a plan that would shape reconciliation.

“To me, I'm sitting here looking at your faces, and I see the reconciliation-- I'm struggling because I've changed the term a little bit. It's reconciliaction. So, when I look at you, that's what I see. And when you look at me I hope you see that,” said Littlechild.

Other guest speakers included local elder Alice Berger who gave a prayer to start off the evening. Lisa Wolf, the secretary of education and languages for the Otipemisiwak Métis Government also spoke.

Wolf told the audience about how her mother's experience in the residential school system affected her own life. Her mother was taken from her home at the age of five and put into a residential school where she was forced to learn English in order to communicate.

“For myself, when I talk about reconciliaction,” said Wolf. “I've learned to serve my community in many different ways. I've learned to serve the people for who they are and what they are.”

She encouraged the audience to consider their own reconciliaction and how they can contribute to their community.

Adam North Peigan, the national president of the Legacy of Hope Foundation in Ottawa also spoke at the event. He, too, was born in Alberta. His parents were victims of the residential schools and he was part of the Sixties Scoop that saw thousands of children lawfully taken from their families to be put into foster care and adopted out to mainly non-Indigenous families.

North Peigan was one of the 12 Sixties Scoop survivors who spoke to the Federal Government and the Pope at the Vatican about their stories.

“I don't know how it happened that you can get myself and Chief Wilton Littlechild in the exact same building, in the exact same place on such an important date: only in Drayton Valley,” said North Peigan.

He says he and Littlechild have known each other for years and both currently live in Ottawa, but they've never attended such an important event together.

“I'm a strong believer that the Creator makes things happen the way that they are supposed to be,” he said. “So it's very fortunate that Drayton Valley has this significance for this year. I really want to extend my appreciation to Drayton Valley for just doing what you needed to do to promote reconciliation.”