Sheguiandah 91��˵�� memorialize those who faced residential school system

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Sheguiandah 91��˵�� memorialize those who faced residential school system

Sheguiandah 91��˵�� unveiled a memorial honoring 71 local children taken to residential schools, with leaders vowing to never repeat this history.

Michael Erskine

Jul 09, 2026 - 6 min read

HONOURING THEIR LEGACY—Elder Donna Debassige, a residential school survivor, lays a wreath at the foot of the newly-installed Residential School Survivors monument at Sheguiandah 91��˵��. The plaque bears the names of all those Sheguiandah 91��˵�� band members who attended schools within the Indian Residential School system. A special ceremony was held on Friday of last week, the day before the annual Sheguiandah Jiingtamok (powwow) to mark the historic event.

Sheguiandah 91��˵�� memorialize those who faced residential school system — HONOURING THEIR LEGACY—Elder Donna Debassige, a residential school survivor, lays a wreath at the foot of the newly-installed Residential School Survivors monument at Sheguiandah 91��˵��. The plaque bears the names of all those Sheguiandah 91��˵�� band members who attended schools within the Indian Residential School system. A special ceremony was held on Friday of last week, the day before the annual Sheguiandah Jiingtamok (powwow) to mark the historic event.

SHEGUIANDAH—The scars of the residential school system run deep within Indigenous communities, especially when it comes to the children who never returned. On the afternoon of July 3, the community of Sheguiandah 91��˵�� unveiled a memorial plaque as part of the Indian Residential School Legacy Project that will ensure the memories of those children are not forgotten.

Inscribed on the plaque are the 71 names of the children from the community who attended the residential schools of Shingwauk, Wiikwemkoong and Spanish between 1830 to 1996, along with the emblem of the Survivor’s Flag. The Survivor’s Flag is “an expression of remembrance designed to honour residential school survivors and all the lives and communities impacted by the residential school system in Canada.”

As part of the ceremony, jingle dress dancers accompanied the honour song, dancing up and around the monument. Elder Donna Debassige, a residential school survivor herself, provided the opening prayer.