The Ska:na Family Learning Centre board of directors, administration, staff and volunteers were deeply saddened to hear of the horrific discovery at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.
“215 children were discovered, discarded, and concealed for so many years,” Ska:na officials said in a media release.
“Families and Nations have suffered this intergenerational trauma without healing and now we come together to honour those little ones, so precious and yet, so lost.”
Ska:na Family Learning Centre (SFLC) is an Indigenous led, not for profit, charity organization serving families with children ages 0-12 years old with child care programs and expanding into Early Years children’s programming.
Founded in 2003, it has been a key support system to many families with young children in Windsor-Essex.
In 2011, SFLC was invited to offer Indigenous-led child care and children’s programming in Sarnia-Lambton and in 2018 began serving the Urban Indigenous families of Chatham-Kent.
“Ska:na Family Learning Centre is a proponent of Trauma Informed Care and as such, will be gathering for our workers, our children, and our families to offer small tributes of remembrance,” Ska:na officials said in a media release issued on Monday, May 31, 2021.
“Orange and red ribbons will be tied to the fences at all locations, and we will gather together as we are able at 2:15 p.m. to honour those spirits with prayers and songs to raise our voices to send them on their journey to the Spirit World.
Ska:na officials added: “SFLC has traditionally shied away from publicity regarding our work with children and families, however, with the many requests we have received from our community partners who are asking, ‘What can we do?’ ‘How do we show we care?’ ‘How can we support you?'”
SFLC made personnel available at their sites in Wallaceburg, Chatham, Windsor and Sarnia for interviews.
A ‘Letting Go’ ceremony at the water will be offered for the children, their families and our communities, Ska:na officials added.
