Local vigil at Alberta Legislature Sunday evening in wake of Kamloops residential school discovery

Edmonton and area residents are being invited to publicly remember the children who died while attending Canada’s residential schools.

A candle-light vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at the Alberta Legislature. But those who want to mark the loss are also being invited to place children’s shoes at a memorial between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. today.

“Please remember them. … All children matter,” said local artist Penelope Walker, in an invitation she posted to Facebook.

People are encouraged to wear masks and maintain physical distancing.

The remains of 215 children were found last week near a residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Members of the local community had long talked of the many children who died or disappeared while attending the school. This was the first time they were able to document evidence of these bodies.

This is not the first time graveyards have been found outside residential schools and many people shared stories of classmates going missing when they testified before Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In Alberta, a graveyard was found on private land near the Red Deer Industrial School. In 2010, following that find, community members honoured the spirits of 350 children in a ceremony on the banks of the Red Deer river. Some of them are thought to be buried in that field.