Reconciliation garden opens in Corner Brook
CORNER BROOK — As she made her way around the Mikwite'tm Garden on the Majestic Lawn in Corner Brook on Friday afternoon, four-year-old Marlee Lowe touched every pair of children's footwear that have been left there over the past two weeks — shoes, sneakers and rubber boots left in memory of and to honour the 215 Indigenous children whose remains were found last month at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
Marlee had a simple reason for her gesture.
“Because I wanted to,” she said. “Because the kids were taken.”
That's what her mom, Jennifer Lowe, has told her.
“I was thinking, give her the chance to connect in her own way,” Jennifer said as Marlee ran about the garden. “That's how she wants to connect with them.”
Making the connection in the garden was fitting, as it was built outside the offices of the Qalipu First Nation on Church Street in honour of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls from communities around this area and across Canada.
Jennifer and Marlee, who are from Port Saunders and members of the Mekap'sk Mi'kmaq Band, were in Corner Brook for the grand opening of the garden.
“She needs to know how special she is and how sacred she is,” Jennifer said of her reason for bringing Marlee. “I just want her to be aware of what's going on in Canada and, most of all, I want her to be safe.”
Jennifer later sang the “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Honour Song” at the opening, with Marlee singing along at her side.
During the official ceremony the crowd that gathered heard from Indigenous leaders such as Chief Mi'sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nation and Qalipu Chief Brendan Mitchell, and from provincial and federal politicians.
The opening of the garden was one of three events held in the city Friday with the theme of reconciliation.
The first was the raising of a special version of the Mi'kmaq Nation Grand Council flag, which will be permanently displayed inside the atrium at city hall.
“Having the Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag hang in the heart of our city hall will be a permanent reminder that we are an Indigenous community and our city government values and supports our special bond with Qalipu First Nation," Mayor Jim Parsons stated in a news release.
The second event saw the Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag raised at Memorial University's Grenfell Campus, making good on a commitment by the university to do so.
MUN president and vice-chancellor Vianne Timmons said watching the flag being raised made her think of her great-great-great-grandmother, Marie Therese Benoit, who was from Conne River.
“And the shoulders that we stand on of the people before us. But it also makes me think of the future, and of all the people that are going to come here, Mi'kmaw, Innu or Inuit, and see that we have honoured their stories or history here at the Grenfell Campus, and we have to do more, much more, in recognizing them.”
Timmons cited curriculum changes, supporting Indigenous students with scholarships and bursaries, and honouring them with Indigenous stories, pictures and music in their surroundings.
Premier Andrew Furey attended all three events, and at Grenfell said the path to reconciliation is not going to be straightforward.
Raising the Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag at an academic institution is an example of how everyone can be educated about reconciliation, he said.
“You can't change history, but you can enable the future. It's incumbent upon us as leaders to ensure that we are creating that path to do just that,” he said.