March 1 gathering on unmarked burials: gratitude for all who participated
Many thanks to the 30 plus people from across SK and beyond who attended Our Sacred Obligations gathering on March 1, online and in person. We learned and talked together in circle, and were privileged to hear from and be supported by elders Rick Daniels and Judy Greyeyes; Dr Raven Sinclair, social work professor and dean of social work at Blue Quills University and Sixties Scoop survivor; and Sara Stratton, the national church’s justice and reconciliation animator.
We offer gratitude and respect to every First Nations and Métis person who brought their experiences and knowledge to the circle, and to elder Lorna Standingready and Rev Deb Anderson-Pratt, who shared some of their personal stories.
Thank you to every non-Indigenous person made the choice to be in this listening and learning space. Thank you to the planning team of Sheila Catto, Debz Ferber, Kit Loewen, and Dale Worrall; to Living Skies Regional Council, and the deeply hospitable community of Station 20 West in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhood who offered us such good food, and an open table to share with community members who wanted to listen, rest, and share food. This gathering needed much support and commitment to make it into a good space, and we were blessed to have that support.
As always, we ran out of time for everything, and one follow up will be supports and learning space for engaging settler denialism of unmarked burials and the impacts of residential schools. Here is a PDF of Sara’s presentation, including her notes, which we hope will give you a broad overview of the report on unmarked burials and missing children. Our work will continue together.
