On Sept. 25, students from École St. Margaret spent their day on a long-winded 10-kilometre walk to recreate the experience that 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack went through when he ran away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in 1966.
Clayton Boyer, the teacher at St. Margaret who put the day together, found the educational project through the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund — of which St. Margaret belongs to as a legacy school.
Wenjack was relocated to a residential school that was 600 kilometres from his birthplace and family and ran away to return home after three years there. Within a week, Wenjack’s body was found after he succumbed to exposure and starvation, having no supplies with him.
The St. Margaret students ventured on their walk to emulate Wenjack’s journey, with Boyer stopping intermittently to talk about how they were far better prepared than Wenjack, and how much more difficult his journey would have been.
The group walked 10 kilometres on their adventure to and from the school, totaling 600 kilometres collectively.
“It actually started raining on us, for about five minutes, which was kind of nice. Thank you mother nature for helping me [make my point] out there,” said Boyer.
A story like Wenjack’s can be hard to conceptualize, which is why Boyer felt this particular activity was interesting.
“The kids got a sense of what it would've been like for Chanie, and they were very respectful. I was really proud of the attitude they had about it,” said Boyer.
The group carried the flag of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, which advocates for bettering Canada through creating awareness of Indigenous history. (supplied)“There's not a lot of awareness of First Nations and Indigenous stories, and I just want my students to kind of grow in their knowledge of how residential schools affected people,” said Boyer.
As someone who grew up trying to understand his own Métis ancestry, Boyer wants to see his students feel comfortable asking questions about Indigenous history.
“I don't want the kids to feel guilty about anything, I just want them to know what happened,” said Boyer. “Because we need to know what residential schools were. We need to know about the Indian Act, and we need to know about contemporary issues.”
Boyer is already looking at using more of the Fund’s resources in his social studies classes in the future.
“I'd like to research if there any residential schools in the area, just kind of like let the kids know about what's happened around Moose Jaw,” said Boyer. “I think that'll help kids when they get to my age and have kind of a backstory or a sense of what's gone on through history.”
