Posted: Jun 03, 2021 10:33 PM CT | Last Updated: June 4
Bernie Spence, Steve Ducharme and Curtis Dysart remove the sign proclaiming the former name of the school on O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation.(Elias Spence Jr.)
A northern Manitoba chief says she ll be looking to her community for input on what to rename a school, after it was recently discovered it held the name of someone who played a role in the residential school system. In some way I m thinking … a Cree name. That would mean a lot, said O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation Chief Shirley Ducharme.
Ducharme said the Nursery to Grade 10 school, which has been known as Oscar Blackburn School, is located in the community of just over 1,000 people, at South Indian Lake.
Dozens flocked to the Manitoba Legislative grounds Wednesday to mark the extinguishing of the sacred fire burning in memory of 215 Indigenous children whose remains were recently discovered on the grounds of a former residential school in British Columbia.