Last Generation Survivor Finds Strength at TRC Anniversary

An annual walk in honour of residential school survivors has taken Sonia Pete all the way to Ottawa.

On December 15 to 18 in Ottawa, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), with Indigenous Services Canada and Future Generations Foundation, hosted a gathering to recognize the 10 year anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Final Report.

The gathering invited heath support workers and survivors, including Pete, to participate in the event. Pete, a member of Little Pine First Nation and Last Generation Residential School Survivor, attended Lebret Residential School before it closed in 1998.

Since 2021, Pete has helped organize Delmas Residential School Walk, where community members will walk from Little Pine First Nation to the former site of the St. Henri (Thunderchild) residential school in Delmas, Saskatchewan.

The annual Delmas walk, recognized by the Future Generations Fund as a significant cultural event, prompted an invitation for Pete to attend the TRC Anniversary.

“It was an amazing experience. I feel really blessed,” said Pete. “I’ve never sat in a room that was so full of so many Elders, knowledge keepers, and survivors.”

The by-invitation gathering for the anniversary required a process that was much like an interview, said Pete. The Future Generations Foundation called Pete to ask her about Delmas Walk. At the end of the call, they invited her to the event.

“I felt so blessed to be included and part of that group. You sit in the room full of survivors and feel the strength in that room – it was very powerful,” said Pete.

The theme of the conference was ‘live life the way it was intended to be’, and included sharing circles, therapy sessions, and speakers such as Eugene Arcand, Governor General of Canada Mary Simon, and Commissioners Dr. Marie Wilson and Dr. Wilton Littlechild.

As a Last Generation Survivor, the gathering was also an important opportunity for Pete to represent her part of recent history.

“For my generation to move forward in healing our communities, we have to use our voices. We need to speak loud about healing and moving forward in healing our communities. We need to educate our people about the intergenerational impacts,” said Pete.

“I feel very strongly about educating people. I’ll keep doing that until I can’t.”

Pete said that one of the subjects they discussed was the continued denialism from those who don’t believe or disregard the history of residential schools in Canada. According to a Cambridge University study, in Canada nearly one in five non-Indigenous people agree with some denialist claims.

“You see denialism everywhere in society. It’s common with newcomers, I don’t think they’re educated on what happened with residential schools,” she said. “This is our truth. This is the history of Canada. It might always be a battle but we need to keep educating people.”

The battle that Pete is currently undertaking involves keep history alive. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that because Independent Assessment Process (IAP) and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) records are private and confidential, they will be automatically destroyed in 2027 unless an individual chooses to have them preserved at the NCTR.

The IAP and ADR records include testimony on abuse and impacts suffered from residential school.

“If those files are destroyed, there goes a part of our history. I feel very strongly that this history needs to be there – those personal stories that were told about the experience in residential schools shouldn’t be lost,” said Pete.

In a further effort to preserve history, organizers of the Delmas Walk – the Little Pine Indian Residential School Survivor Group – are planning on putting up a monument at the former residential school site. They are currently applying for funding to produce the monument.

“I hope it keeps healing and awareness in our community,” said Pete. “We’re all effected in some way. We won’t forget what happened, it’s part of our history.”