Tuesday's unveiling of a marker commemorating those who attended the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School is being described as a historic moment by the chief of Long Plain First Nation. Dennis Meeches attended the ceremony, which saw survivors, students, and others in attendance as the piece was unveiled. The marker is in the shape of a ring, appearing as two braids of sweet grass. Inside the piece is inscribed with imagery from indigenous cultures across Canada. A total of 139 of the pieces are being unveiled at the sites of the country's former residential schools, including yesterday's presentation at what is now the Rufus Prince Building.

Meeches says the ceremony came 100 years after the first students were moved into the school. While the residential school was shut down in 1975, it continues to house numerous programs including an education facility and the Dakota Ojibway Police Service. He says the unveiling of the artwork's a great way to preserve the area's history, which he admits has been tragic at times. 

Dennis Meeches

"It's acknowledging a hundred years of this sacred area. It has a long history, and most of it's not a good history but at the same time Long Plain is fortunate to have received this land in the early eighties as part of our treaty entitlements. To me, it's a bit of destiny at play."

During the event survivors of the residential school system, including those who attended the Portage institution, shared their stories. One survivor to share her story was Pearl Pelletier, who started attending the school at age six in 1940. While she started at the facility at age six, her father began teaching her and her siblings the English language prior to that. While she didn't understand why at the time, she later realized he was preparing them for their experience in the residential school. With an

Pearl Pelletier shares her storyunderstanding of English, Pelletier, and her siblings attempted to teach their fellow students how to speak the language to avoid punishment.

"We got punished if we tried to help the kids with the English language. We got punished. We would get strapped."

She says many of her classmates quickly forgot their traditional language, after not being able to speak it within the school.

Pelletier managed to escape the school about nine years after first arriving. One night during the winter, she and others had escaped through a window and attempted to follow the river home. Without shoes it proved a dangerous journey for the youth, leading to the growth of one of Pelletier's feet being stunted for life.

"I spent a couple of months in the hospital because of my frozen feet. I was able to leave school. My dad took me out of school because he figured if I had tried again, I would freeze the next time. We actually could have frozen because at one point we laid down. We were tired. Had we gone to sleep, I'm sure we would have frozen to death."

While there's been a recent push toward reconciliation, she says that means very little for those who lived within the facilities. She says there's no way to undo what had happened within the school, but admits it's encouraging to see more and more survivors sharing their stories. She says events like the marker unveiling can help ensure something like the residential schools can never happen again, by ensuring all Canadians are aware of the unbelievable terrors that faced those institutions' students.

"I think the whole of society should know the story because I think a lot of people don't believe it. You hear the atrocities and you don't believe it. I suppose, if I were in their case, maybe I wouldn't believe it because it's so terrible."

Pelletier doesn't like to speak about the atrocities she had faced during her time at the residential school but says it was more than just being away from her family, but because of the things that had occurred inside the building. While she doesn't speak about the abuse she faced in her nine years in the institution, she says to this day she's unable to sleep without a light on.