Mushkegowuk walkers in Sharbot Lake

May 28, 2015

Eight walkers from the Moose Cree First nation are walking from Cochrane, Ont. to Ottawa, and the group stopped in Sharbot Lake on the evening of Monday, May 25 where they were offered hospitality from Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First
Nation and Father George Kwari, Incumbent of the Parishes of Maberly-Lanark and Parham-Sharbot Lake St. Andrew's Anglican Church.
The walkers were also joined by numerous members of the St. Andrew's church congregation and shared conversations over dinner before spending the night at the Sharbot Lake Country Inn.

The group met again for breakfast the next day prior to leaving the village to continue their walk to Ottawa where they expect to arrive on May 30. One of the walkers, Patrick Etherington Senior of Fort Albany ON, is a survivor of the St. Anne's residential school of Fort Albany. He spent six years there in the 1960's from the age of six years old until 11, and said “the truth happened". He suffered multiple types of abuse and neglect, which have been fully documented in Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC). Patrick feels strongly that documenting the truth in the TRC is not enough and also wants to ensure that when the TRC's national events finish in Ottawa this June, that the awareness and education about Canada's Indian residential schools continues on.

“Through this walk we wanted to access what is going on in a more descriptive manner and to educate the public. Now we have the
truth, yes, but how we begin to visit the process of reconciliation is the question.”

He said that along the way he and his group have been approached and supported by many church groups who helped them with accommodations on their journey. In the process has had many conversations about the facts and issues about the Indian residential schools, and added that the feelings and questions that have arisen have made a first start in the process towards reconciliation

Patrick Jr. said, “walking is the easy part of what we are doing. We go through and can get through the physical pain of walking but sometimes we are faced with issues of racism which can be hard. I'm trying to look at things more now from both sides and on a positive note we also get a lot of support and people often stop and talk and ask us what we are doing and when they find out what it is, that really changes things."

He said the walk has made him listen more to other people, with less anger. He said that at one point on the walk he spoke to one older RCMP officer whose role was to take children away to the residential schools and how “that is something that he will have to live with. But by talking with him I saw that most people are good but had to do some bad things and that now they are left having to get past their guilt.” The dialogue continued in Sharbot Lake. Father Kwari of St. Andrews said, “the Moose Cree First Nation and the Muskegowuk Walkers are special to us because, in assisting them with meals and accommodation in Sharbot Lake, we are living up to the Church’s commitment of reconciliation with First Nations people. We get to meet the real people as we share a meal with them, and this shows our readiness to listen to the stories of the Indian Residential School (IRS) survivors and their families, who still suffer from the consequences of the misguided operation of the residential schools. In so doing, we continue the journey of truth-telling and truthlistening towards eventual healing and reconciliation across our church communities and among the citizens of Canada.”

Chief Doreen Davis was also happy and honoured to offer support to the group and at the dinner table at the Sharbot Lake Country Inn, where a diverse group was gathered. She said, “this is where reconciliation can really begin.”

The Cochrane to Ottawa walk is the third for Patrick Sr and for some of the other walkers in the group who included Patrick Senior's two sons Edmond and Patrick Jr, Remi Nakogee, Darren Hughie, Maurice Wesley and John Fox Jr.

The walkers were also being supported along the way by Sean Lee-Popham and his partner who are helping with the logistics and arranging for accommodations. The first walk took place in 2010 from Cochrane to Winnipeg and the second from Cochrane to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Patrick Sr's partner Frances Whiskeychan, also one of the eight walkers said the aim of the walk “is to give awareness as a ceremonial process (journey) from Cochrane to Ottawa. This walk is regarding residential school issues and the impact on the school survivors, their children and grandchildren."