Portage Collegiate Institute was the site on Thursday of a live-streamed memorial commemoration of the 215 First Nation children who were found buried on the site of the Kamloops residential school. Students placed 215 orange ribbons on the schoolyard fence.

Indigenous Academic Achievement Facilitator Jill Fast spoke at the event and shares the details.

"In light of the recent news of the 215 children that were discovered at the former Kamloops residential school, we thought that we needed to do something to commemorate and honour the children and their families, and all residential school survivors and families," says Fast. "So, I reached out to local elders and knowledge keepers, and we had a commemoration at PCI."

Fast says she spoke at the event and notes highlights included songs sung by the Dakota Hostiles drum group in the Dakota language for the children and all children of the world.

"It was just nice to come together as a school and the students recognizing the importance of it.," continues Fast. "And we live-streamed it because we have to do virtual, so that all schools could participate in this commemoration. We had a student come up with the idea for the orange ties, and we have 215 orange ties now for those children that are along the north fence at the high school," says Fast.

(L-R) Cindy, Collin, Lane, Garret, Dale, Cornell Pashe, Jill Fast