Residential school survivor calling on people to 'learn' on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

To help mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, St. Francis High School unveiled a 15-foot Indigenous art piece on Friday.

On Saturday, people throughout Calgary will mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Residential school survivor Lena Wildman wants people to take the opportunity to understand what she and many others went through.

“This is an opportunity for everybody to learn the truth about this dark time,” said Wildman. “(Learn) what really happened in the schools. Because when I went to school, none of that was in the social curriculum.”

Lena Wildman, was taken from her family at four years old. She said she was camping with her family on the east end of the Stoney Chiniki First Nation in 1965 when authorities arrived.

She was enrolled in the Morley Indian Residential School, located about 50 kilometres west of Calgary, where she experienced some of the most traumatic moments of her life.

“It was a place where I learned the hard way, hard way, not to speak my language,” she said.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation now has more than 4,100 confirmed names of children who died while at residential schools. The commission said the number of lives lost is likely much higher.