Documentary film shown in memory of lost, forgotten children
- Tiffany Head | May 28, 2015
The Regina Indian Industrial School seems to have faded from memory or is unheard of.
So, Janine Windolph and Trudy Stewart embarked on a journey to collect stories. They found that the greatest mystery was trying to find the names of the children buried in an unmarked grave site and in unmarked graves as the crosses eroded with time.
“I was first approached on January 2014 by a member of the United Church and one of the descendants of the students, who wanted to do a documentary on the Regina Indian Industrial School,” said Stewart.
From their stories and research came the documentary RIIS From Amnesia, which had its world premiere on May 22nd at the Artesian theatre.
Regina Indian Industrial School opened in 1891 to teach the First Nations children basic writing, reading and arithmetic skills. The boys were taught farming skills and the girls in domestic duties. The school closed in 1910.
The grave site held children who went to RIIS but the number of children buried in the gravesite is unknown.
“That remains unclear because there’s 38 chaffs, but by then they sometimes stacked them and they found six graves outside of the cemetery. So that would be 44 grave shaft all together but there could be more children buried there than that,” said Stewart.
They hope that there will be more action taken after people gain knowledge of the children who never made it back to their families. The gravesite remains unprotected by the province and there is fear of what will happen to the gravesite.
“There have been lots of community members that have come forward. Wanting to help take care of it, but it still needs to be protected because that area is going to be developed,” said Stewart.
Nancy Lafontaine went to the premiere not knowing what to expect, as she had not known about RIIS. She says she would bring awareness by telling her story about the film and asking what they knew about RIIS.
“I would ask people if they knew or if they realize that RIIS was there, they say there are a lot of people that don’t know and to bring that awareness would be good,” said Lafontaine.
The people who created the documentary had formed a committee and are now seeking charitable status, they aim to make the gravesite protected from development and make people aware of the sad history that was almost forgotten.
“Even though the film is done, it somehow just begun,” said Windolph on taking more action to leave a legacy for the descendants of RIIS and the children that are buried at the gravesite.
The next showing is on June 6th at the Luther College at 7:30 and they plan to show it in various communities and whoever that contacts them for a screening, they will also put it up online for anyone to see.
For more information go to the film's website.
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