'A lot of healing': Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies in London region
CTV
Veronica Ninham wipes away tears as she listens to speakers talk about the pain of relatives who attended residential schools.
Veronica Ninham wipes away tears as she listens to speakers talk about the pain of relatives who attended residential schools.
Ninham, 71, is a first generation residential school survivor.
“I thought about my dad when he was only four years old when they took him away from his mom,” Ninham tells CTV News from a remembrance ceremony on The Green in Wortley Village in London, Ont.
“Not just him, his other brother and two sisters were taken too so my grandma was left with nothing. If it was me, I would feel like dying if they took my kids but my grandma, she did it. She survived eventually she took care of us”.
A gathering on The Green in Wortley Village Friday featured Indigenous culture with drumming, signing, smoke dancing, jingle dress dancing, and language workshops. Family members of residential schools were recognized and stood in a circle as the young dancers performed.
“Today is a day to remember all the pain and all the trauma and also celebrate the resiliency and everyone survived,” says Mason Sands, 23, a jingle dress dancer and third-generation residential school survivor.
“My dad is a Pow Wow singer, so I was born into the Pow Wow circle, and the jingle dress is a Pow Wow style, so I've always loved it since I was about the age of two. It’s also an Ojibwe dance and I'm part of my nation is Ojibwe so I feel really deep connection to it and it just makes me happy.”
