Memorials growing in Metro Vancouver after children’s remains found in Kamloops

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DELTA (NEWS 1130) — In Delta, a memorial to the children whose remains were found in Kamloops last week is growing, the steps of City Hall lined with children’s shoes on Monday.

News of the discovery of 215 children buried in an unmarked grave at the site of a former residential school continues to create waves of shock and sorrow, and spur demands for all levels of government to implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Tributes and memorials are being created at government buildings and in other public spaces across the country, visual reminders of the scale of the tragedy.

In Vancouver, a similar display was created by Haida artist Tamara Bell on Friday. The pairs of shoes confront people passing by with the sheer number of children’s lives lost, while creating space to mourn and honour the victims and survivors of the residential school system.

RELATED: ‘To not let them be forgotten’: Vancouver memorial created after 215 children’s remains found in Kamloops

Erin Alger, after seeing Bell’s display and similar displays in other cities, was inspired to do the same in Delta where she lives.

“We’re just here today to honour the lives of the children that were found in Kamloops, to bring a pair of shoes to represent each child, so we can visualize how many children that is,” she said, adding reconciliation can’t only be the work of Indigenous people.

“I just know that as a society we need to come together and work for that reconciliation.”

Delta Mayor George Harvie visited the memorial and added a pair of children’s shoes.

“It’s a very dark day, very dark,” he said.

“I will be asking, through a letter to the Prime Minister, for him to do his job to really investigate this, to try and ensure that he looks at other sites, do whatever Nations need to bring this to closure so they can heal.”

The Mayor of New Westminster also shared an image of a display at City Hall, saying “my heart aches for the lives lost, and for the families and generations that have been affected by this devastation.”

In North Vancouver, 215 stuffed animals have been laid outside of the school district’s offices.

Brad Baker, District Principal and member of the Squamish Nation, said the deaths of these children in Kamloops underscores how crucial it is not to let the work of reconciliation wait.

“I think we need to go back to what the author of the Truth and Reconciliation said…sit and listen, show respect, and don’t over talk the Indigenous people of this country,” he said.

“After a month, one year, two years, the dialogue needs to continue. We have 94 calls to action to understand, if we want to move forward everyone needs to grasp those and understand them.”

In Vancouver, City Hall will be lit in orange “until further notice.”

At the B.C. Legislature, a memorial has been reconstructed after being taken down by staff following a vigil Friday night. Flags continue to fly at half-staff at City Halls, provincial legislatures, and federal government buildings across Canada.

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