Introduction

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do you want me to get my

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is amber’s micron is it blue okay chris you can’t see

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so we’re gonna get started uh hello everyone and welcome to our monthly community tour at the art gallery of

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alberta uh this month we are very excited to welcome back amber paquette to lead our tour my name is michael

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magnussen i am the public program and outreach coordinator at the art gallery of alberta to start this program i would

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like to do a land acknowledgement we are currently in the aga building which is in treaty six territory in edmonton the

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traditional land of a diverse indigenous peoples including the cree blackfoot metis

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we acknowledge and extend gratitude to the many first nations metis and inuit who’s

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these lands for generations and who continue to call this place home today we are currently in the exhibition here

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i am can you see me by george little child that features a series of 22 drawings of

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first nations children who have may have perished while attending residential school in massachusetts alberta the

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exhibition gives remembrance recognition honor and validation to the thousands of innocent children who lost

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their lives in the residential school system this program is happening both online

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and in person if you’re attending online and would like to ask a question please use the zoom q a function to ask your

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question which we’ll get to at the end of the program this program is made possible in part

Amber Paquette

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through support of the heart and soul fund by epcor i would also like to thank the candidate council for the arts for

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their contribu for digital programs now i will introduce amber

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amber paquette is a cree metis multi-disciplinary artist filmmaker and the sixth historian laureate for the

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city of edmonton she was born and raised in image alberta amber has worked as an

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artist writer educator and storyteller for several years her work with the public has centered on historical

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representations of the first nations of metis communities as well as her own contemporary expression of cree mt

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identity in the visual arts without further ado take it away thank you so much um behind say hello thank

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you so much for coming out and braving the cold it’s really brave of you all

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especially to come out and kind of acknowledge and recognize and experience

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a space that is here i am can you see me by george little child um this exhibit has been uh it’s an

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inauguration one so it’s a first um i believe that it’s it’s ever been shown to the public

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um and hopefully will be shown in many more places um so george little child was very much

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inspired to do this work primarily from his own family background his own life and cultural experiences

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he did this work before the recent findings in kamloops and those were the

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215 unmarked graves of indigenous children

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in kamloops since then i think it’s very important to note that there has been

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thousands more children found since then and the number of those children

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and their graves is up past 7 000 now um

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and according to the trc it was only 3 000 children who attend or

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it was only 3 000 children who may have died in these schools but these most recent findings

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of course reflect a very different and very harrowing reality

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um i am a third generation um residential school survivor my great

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great grandmother marie rose cardinal attended the saint albert residential school which was

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known as the uofl convent um and i i don’t i did not get to know her unfortunately but the uh the legacy

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um and the violence of these institutions very much lives on through my family in the trauma that

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we had to suffer as well um so this is a very hard space to be in i think for

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many of us but this is part of the truth part of truth and reconciliation

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that we absolutely have to face and we have to acknowledge um so with that i would really love to kind

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of just introduce you to the two to this exhibit and and the works that are in here

George Littlechild

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um as i mentioned before it’s called here i am can you see me

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um a georgia little child very much wanted to

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give faces to these unmarked graves um through his own project through his own

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kind of story of trying to find himself he he was the 60 scoop survivor that

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meant that he was taken forcibly from his own family and went through you know four foster homes and lived through

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unmanageable um you know trauma um so he left he lived with that himself

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um and when he would go to the archives and see the thousands of photos there of first nations children

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none of them had names so he would go to the community where he is from moscow

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which is formerly known as hobima and he would show these photographs to the elders who were there and asked them

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if you knew who they were and oftentimes they they did know and they could name who they were but some

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children they did not have names and people did not know who they were um and so he wanted to know who those

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children were what happened to them um and and that’s kind of where this this

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whole body of work was birthed out of um just right here uh i’ll kind of just

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say this out loud for those who can’t really see it here i am can you see me in reverence we

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are deeply saddened by the discovery of over 5 000 indigenous children’s bodies found in

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unmarked graves at indian residential school sites across canada this timely

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exhibition biplane’s korean artist george littlechild seeks to honor these lost lives

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over the course of his 40-year career little child has been committed to writing the wrongs that first nations

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people have endured by creating the works of art that focuses on cultural social and political injustices

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the work in this exhibition includes a series of drawings of first nations children graves in the discharge records

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of those who attended the residential school in musculatus alberta formerly known as hubima

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pictured as well are two priests and two nuns who were some of the many who controlled these children’s lives and

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how they were treated the exhibition also includes intimate photographs of little child’s family

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members his mother rachel little child and two uncles all of whom experienced the trauma that residential school

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system firsthand in addition to six other siblings after being released from

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the school at the age of 16 his mother was allowed to leave the reserve and move to edmonton

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as a residential school survivor she suffered from post-traumatic stress and died tragically at the age of 37 on skid

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row edmonton’s 27th street his uncles or sorry his uncles alfred little child and

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louis little child however were among the lives lost much earlier they died as

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children at the irma skin in residential school in the artist’s words i want to give

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remembrance recognition honor and validation to the thousands of innocent children that nobody is able to

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recognize as they stand amongst their fellow residential school students in the photographs all but forgotten in

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museum and archival collections in this manner i seek to legitimize their lives

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and restore modicum and dignity and importance to their short existence in the world my heart is sickened by the

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discovery of these unmarked graves and the atrocities that went on across canada at indian residential schools i

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am shocked by the number of deaths these innocent children a tragic and sad part of canada’s treatment towards its

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indigenous populations

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and moving on with that this is a photo of george’s mother rachel who did attend

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the urban skin residential school so moving on forward

Residential Schools

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this photograph was one that was taken from the residential school that his that his family attended

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this is his mother uh rachel um and i believe from what george told

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kind of the community himself um that his grandmother had 12 children and nine of them were taken forcibly to

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residential schools in which two of them would die and one of them would live with you know

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of course horrific stars of what happened in these schools

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i’m not sure if anyone is not familiar with what residential schools are but those were systemic institutions

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that were created in order to separate indigenous children from their parents and their communities and their

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families in order to in order to honestly assimilate them into canadian

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society um it was a form of cultural genocide and even very real genocide

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especially considering what happened in these schools and they’re not even schools i i don’t even

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consider them really institutions i i more consider than what george said uh labor camps

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so a brief history um for almost 150 years 1863 to as recently as 1998

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the canadian government funded more than 130 residential schools in 1998 that’s like spice girls for contacts

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um until 1969 many of these schools were operated by christian churches they were

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also operated by the anglican churches in the united church but it was primarily the the catholic church and

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the old blades these schools were forcibly these schools forcibly separated indigenous

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children from their families and isolated them from their communities and their cultures during that time more than 150 000 indigenous children in

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canada first nations metis and inuit attended these schools

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abuse continued as long as schools were in operation and students received cruel and

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by 1900 there were 20 000 children in indian boarding schools and by 1925 that

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number had more than tripled the stated purpose of this policy was to kill the indian save the man by 1960s

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the policy likely separated thousands of indigenous children from their families many children never returned from their

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schools 2015 report 2015 report by the truth and reconciliation commission documented 3

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200 children who died while at residential schools but the number of deaths could be 10 times higher which is

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very true considering what we have recently found we encourage visitors to learn more

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about the truth and reconciliation commission’s 94 calls to action it is each canadian’s responsibility to

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learn more about this part of their history and familiarize themselves to have a better understanding of the

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situation once we have all shared understanding of the truth about what has happened the more we can move forward to reconcile

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our situation history creates a context of today we have to understand what happened the

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chapters before us to know where we are in this huge collective story

Urban Skin

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so moving on to the first piece we have a unidentified child from the urban skin

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indian residential school so that school was

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is hill so it means the bear hills or amisk where the beaver hills so they’re the

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bear hills he described that this piece

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um he is george is gifted uh with being able to see auras um

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and so he said that he he kind of blanketed a lot of the children and even the priests in in this

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aura um and specifically in red to represent uh the blood of jesus christ

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the soul their souls which is which are literally being reaped um you know by these priests

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and certainly not saved um

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he’s kind of have elements in the cross in this one this girl she’s kind of before her transformation going

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through the school the three children here

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kind of in their sunday’s best as it was called um they’re kind of going through that

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process of assimilation you know cultural

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degradation um and each each one is you know unidentified child

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number two an unidentified number child number three

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and he has a theme of windows

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and doors and that is to represent

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a lot of the stories of just children being trapped in these prisons and just looking out

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and wanting to be out into the world and being physically trapped

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this one is well unidentified child from urban skin indian residential school number four

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heavy theme of doors windows i like that he has his piercing still in this one

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this one is described as a um a communion she’s going for her first communion

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and kind of hence the veil

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what i love the most about george’s art work is the piercing penetrating eyes of

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each individual um and how they really are just kind of really looking through you and really do

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give almost voice and animation to these people and these poor children

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that we only ever get to read about george little child um

Souls

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did this piece on one of the priests who were in the photographs that he studied he doesn’t

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know the name um but each kind of scratch here each tic tally is

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a representation of you know the souls he’s collecting

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um and again just that that aura of red

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in this one too he’s got um you know the simulation of the cross but he kind of changes the cross in each

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in each piece this one

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she has in the background pieces of porridge little pieces of

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porridge um and that is because the food that the children were eating

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in these schools was absolutely horrendous and atrocious it was usually porridge usually rancid porridge

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um they were poorly poorly fed they went to bed hungry they lived hungry they worked hungry

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um these children were intentionally starved it wasn’t like there was a lack of food um the priests

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were eating it up the priests and nuns were literally having banquets and feasting um often on rations that were

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withheld from these children’s own communities um so while their parents were starving these children were also starving

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so he has that represented there

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george said that he went to um the the graveyard that is in moscochis

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um to to draw these and they are unmarked graves um that are

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there there on the mount and um you know it’s just so surreal that

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that’s all that’s left of just such a sparkling life just this just snuffed out

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and there’s more being found of course with the most recent technology um

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where now you just see these you know horroring you know tracks of a field that were

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once empty and now they’re just being dotted with little flags in each one being tiny

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little person and like these are little children i have three children

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um one of them’s three months old one of them’s three some of the youngest children taken were three years old and

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i fathom maybe i can maybe we all can we don’t

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want to um but that pain is there is no measure to that

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um [Music] and george often would say that trying to do this work was immensely difficult

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and hard for him it’s it was really emotional he had to take a lot of breaks um and he had to allow himself to to to

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degree of doing this work um it’s it’s a lot to even even talk about it and i think a lot for us to even

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absorb um of course take time for yourselves with this information

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um another one heavily influence of you know doors

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and just that feeling of that door being closed their future

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done that door was closed that door was over they had no one to

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you know give them any sense of purpose or being or identity that was over for them these poor children

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uh this is another first communion piece i’m not reading the name of each piece

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only because each one is the same they’re going by number and i think that’s important

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and symbolic because these children were not called by their names they were stripped down of their identities

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down to their very names and only called by number and were even told to

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sew their numbers into their clothing can you imagine

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uh this piece here um in the background can anyone

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kind of see what it is i’m not sure from afar um but this is like a little

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lace like a little and these are lice eggs um

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and these children when they were taken and plucked out of their how they’re ripped not plucked ripped out of their families um they were brought into these

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schools and their hair and their braids were cut off cut short

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and they were de-loused um their own chemicals in their faces and their poor little bodies and their in

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their hair um and the cutting of the hair was deeply traumatizing and also deeply symbolic

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that that was a sever of power to one’s spirit in connection with mother earth

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we wear our hair long and we do not cut it we do not we do not let other people touch our

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hair even because it’s just so powerful in representation of who we are um you

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only usually cut it if you’re grieving um other than that you just leave it the way that it is and the longer that it is

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the longer it’s closer is to two mothers into the ground um

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so that that cutting that severing of that that was so much more than you know a fashion statement that was

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truly spiritual abuse and i’m quite sure they were aware of that and knew that

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this one is uh did she turn the other way while the priest abused the children and

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did she too abuse the innocent

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and she has um the cross which is sideways here which uh i heard george describe is like

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that’s like a no like what happened here is like not acceptable at all

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um and again just like the tallies of just like the souls

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that these people assumingly are saving

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and the same story here as well and often i think we we question like how could these people

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even commit such vile and irrehensable actions against small innocent people

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small children and a lot of times these priests and these nuns they were not even wanted by society

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at large you know they might have been or ex-convicts you know perhaps they had mental issues

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they were often priests and nuns because they themselves had gone through perhaps

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less than desirable circumstances so to put these children in the hands of these people we’re literally putting them in

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the hands of people who committed crimes and who knows what

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this is a father pierre mullen bringer of souls to jesus and god

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uh he’s french a lot of a lot of the oblates for our french um

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and they have a lot of records uh which which are completely accessible some of them are not many of them were destroyed

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for the old blades one thing they’re really good at was keeping records

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and speaking of records that is what these are george didn’t include any names

Records

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for privacy reasons but these are copies of the records from the residential school

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that kind of detail you know what grade they were in and

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why they were discharged when they left to school and what reason why they might have been discharged

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and you kind of can see here it’s you know needed at home the marks just mean ditto

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sickly time over dead time over dead sick time over sick

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needed at home um and of course time over being you know

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you’re 16 time to go but can you imagine being there until you’re 16 years of age until you’re an adult um

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same thing here needed at home married um oftentimes children were

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um i would say forcibly married to each other um traditionally free people would

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you know have arranged marriages within their communities um and had symbolic cultural meaning and

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were often especially with the cree endoagony where you practice certain kinship relations extended

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kinship networks so you don’t marry outside of your certain community to a certain extent

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and um these priests you know we’re forcibly making completely two children from completely unrelated communities

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unrelated histories um you know marry each other and of course them being born in these

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schools not born in these schools raised in these schools without love and being brought together that is of course a

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recipe for you know intergenerational trauma down the line which very much happens

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um something i experienced in my own family um and this final one it’s just blown up

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into size and you know covered with tears to really

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you know dead but child gets homeless at home you know from school because they died

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and why did they die um i think is the most you know potent question and

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enormous whoring on awful horrific answers

Residential School

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this is homage to the late uncle louis little child who died in ermine skin indian residential school

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1921 1933. auntie tilly said he was an artist and

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nice looking um so george he had two uncles that he

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discovered went to this school and um they passed away and they don’t know why

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um this barbed wire is representative of the barbed wire an electric fence that

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literally was around the school so that’s not a school that’s that’s a camp it’s a tournament

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camp you you you had to have a pass from the indian agent in order to leave um and

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the coercion and the abuse that indian agents used um

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it was was irrehensible and oftentimes led to the reasons why these children would

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even be in the school you know the threat of having rations withheld from your whole community that

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you would starve if you didn’t send your child to this school

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sister none the problem [Music] just have all of this

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negative energy and arrows just into her

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and this poor girl who is his mother i do believe

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and then finally my favorite my favorite piece is uh

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i draw you for those who say residential schools never happened

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uncle alfred little child your life ended because you died while young at the hermanskin indian

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residential school of unknown causes 2018.

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and i kind of just want to leave it there it’s a lot for everyone to process

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you know take time for yourselves and your families to just really let the cell sink in go

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home and do something nice all that stuff because it is very heavy um but don’t just

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pack it away and don’t look back on it please very do think

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and meditate and reflect where it is all these stories on these truths and realities that have happened

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um you know and how art can often be just one of the best translations for those things that we often don’t

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have words for so thank you so much for having me

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what was the question sorry i couldn’t i couldn’t hear you [Music]

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i’m curious about tradition um how like what traditionally

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looked

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i think that’s a great fantastic question and it reminds me that we did not pan over to peace the

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center piece and i think that’s probably the most important piece thank you um

Spirit House

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this is the spirit house and it’s a traditional grave and um of

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the ojibwe actually um and this is just specific to them it’s not you know universal or anything like

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that um but this this house would be constructed to protect the body and the spirit um you would often leave you know

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offerings in there for the spirit um as they kind of traveled over into the next chapter

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and there’s one of these still and i’ve seen one in person there’s only one that i know of in alberta that’s still standing

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um and it’s the grave of suzanne caraconte who’s my great great great aunt and they are much larger than this

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they’re about three times the size and they kind of come up to about here

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and you can go to jasper valley you can see it today um and what’s fascinating about suzanne is

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that she wasn’t an ishnave but oftentimes there was there’s a lot of cultural blending in alberta so

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the fact that she was niroqua lady um who spoke cree who had an anishinabe burial practice says a lot about

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fluidity in our communities um but for the cree um it really kind of

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just depended like there was so many different types of burial practices um and because of those those ethnic

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blending and cultural blendings it’s really often hard to say you know specifically we did this um you know

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down on the plains they had scaffoldings where people would be placed on scaffolds and exposed to the elements

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and cree culture you know some of them had big burial internments where every 20 years the community would come

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back and they would turn everybody into a group communal grave um and rossdale is

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actually one of those places um and again like you would have the bones stripped clean um and bundled and then

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sometimes carried great great distances um you know thousands of miles sometimes to be interned in these places

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um so people deeply cared about their remains in their

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virtual connections to people’s remains and their children it’s it’s

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the fact that we we don’t know who these children are and we don’t have names for them um you know that’s a huge lapse you

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know in in in so much um for communities that placed immense care and importance on their

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burial rates so thank you thank you very much

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there is yeah there is do we have time to to go over there cool

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so the spirit house most indigenous peoples believed that the souls of the dead pass into the spirit world and

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become part of the spiritual forces that influence every aspect of life various rituals customs and beliefs and

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in some cases still are performed in the care of the dead burial customs varied from tribe to tribe southeastern tribes

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practiced secondary bone burials corpses were dug bones were cleaned and then reburied the eastern great lakes people

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saved skeletons and deceased for final mass burials that included furs and ornaments from the dead spirits used in

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the afterlife northwest coastal tribes often put their dead in canoes fastened to pools

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some southern tribes practice cremation in mountain areas tribes often place their dead in caves or fissures and

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rocks the tribes of the great plains region either buried them on tree platforms or scaffolds

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the peoples of the far north in the east erected small gabled roof board houses over the graves called spirit houses

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the purpose of the wooden spirit house was to protect the body while the soul crossed into the spirit world these

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houses were built from wooden planks and featured a peak roof a round hole was cut to the western end

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of the deceased spirits to escape off food offerings tools items of significance to the dead or placed

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inside or on a small shelf by the opening

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yeah that’s there in the middle there questions from from the audience

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anybody else i think we’re good

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awesome well thank you so much and hi hi for all your time and you know holding

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space for all of this um and i really thank you for coming out um and again really take time to just you

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know process and and heal um from this night it’s it’s a lot to take

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in so thank you yeah thank you so much amber from

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everyone at the aga and myself and helen included it was a truly powerful uh tour yeah thank you and thank you so much um

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for the aja for having me and of course you know deep honor and thank you for george for doing this this space

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um it’s such an undertaking to you know try and translate these stories and these realities in these

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lives and it’s a huge honor for me to even attempt to try and talk about them

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so thank you so much yeah i will just mention um that this tour has been recorded and it’s going to be on youtube

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very shortly it’s also available to watch on our facebook so if you have friends or colleagues that you feel

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should see this tour by amber please share it with them thank you again awesome

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