A group of people wearing orange shirts walked past the Hillside Cemetery Thursday, beside Portage la Prairie, where people frequent in order to visit the graves of their loved ones who've passed, to cherish and celebrate their memory. However, some of the crowd who walked by do not have that benefit. They were walking in the Walk of Sorrow, a healing walk in memory of the hundreds of unmarked grave of children found in a couple of former Indian residential schools in western Canada so far.

Patricia Ballantyne attended a residential school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and began the Walk last month to raise the message of healing for her people. 

She led the walk through Portage Thursday, starting at the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School, on her way to Ottawa.

"I organized it for myself," says Ballantyne. "I was just mainly going to go for my own walk, and friends shared it. I didn't expect anyone to meet me in Prince Albert. I was going to go leave from there, and my niece, nephew, and my stepdaughter were there, so they came with me when we first started. It's just called the Walk of Sorrow because after I heard the news of the Kamloops babies being discovered, it just triggered all that trauma from me when I was a child in the residential school."

She notes she didn't realize that she had blocked it out of her memory over the years. Ballantyne says she had an overwhelming sense of how small and defenceless she and all the other children in those schools really were.

Ballantyne attended the Prince Albert Indian Residential School and that's where she began her walk.

"I started right on the grounds there and walked out towards Milford, and then from there, I took Hwy 6 to Regina and all the way here to Hwy 1," continues Ballantyne. "We are going to Ottawa. It'll probably take the next couple of weeks or so. We are just doing a healing walk. It's nothing to do with protests or anger, or anything like that. I know our people are angry, but I still continue to reinforce that healing part of my walk and the awareness of the residential schools, and how it really was for our people when we had to go to residential schools."

Ballantyne notes she has been threatened over the course of this journey.

"It's sad, you know," says Ballantyne. "I didn't allow it to scare me. When I saw those messages, I asked myself who this person was. It was a Facebook message and it said, 'Watch while you're on the highway. Somebody will just come bump you off the highway if you're walking. If there is a chance to bump you off the highway, we will. I will find you...' was kind of the attitude. Then pushed that off, thinking he's just angry. Let's pray for this person."

She notes she then received another message this past Wednesday, saying, "You better make sure you have somebody with you when you go into the cities or in communities. Somebody will find you and come and stop your walk."

Ballantyne said things really became serious when another message told her that her next birthday would be her last.

"I didn't say anything about it at the beginning because the first message was about a week ago," says Ballantyne. "I didn't say anything. I just kept praying on it and then when I got the other one yesterday, it said, 'Enjoy your birthday. This will probably be your last birthday.'"

She notes it's meant to be a peaceful walk, or healing walk, and isn't being done out of anger, or conflict.

"I don't want First Nations people to be angry anymore," notes Ballantyne. "I've noticed that it's always about anger when they get together, so I'm trying very hard and I keep reinforcing with the media that this is not anything to do with protests or anger. I want it to be strictly healing and focusing on our healing together."

Her journey started in June 5th.

Local Portage Bear Clan executive director Manon Timshel says she received word from their sister clan in Brandon that Ballantyne was on her way to Portage, and noted threats had been made. She explains the Bear Clan escorted them through Portage to ensure all is well.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.