OTTAWA — Eugene Arcand fought back tears as he stood in front a row of flags in bright October sunshine on Parliament Hill, holding up a photo of his residential school classmates.
"There are 32 children in that picture," said Arcand, a member of the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan. "Only seven of us are still alive. Not one of us committed suicide."
Arcand joined other survivors, their family members, assorted MPs and Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty on the Hill Wednesday to raise the Survivors' Flag to honour the memory of the children who came home — and the ones who didn't.
Arcand told those assembled how Indigenous children were physically, psychologically and sexually abused almost daily at the schools.
"We're not here to cry on your shoulders and look for your pity," he said.
"But we're here to let you know that we're not only here for us who are standing here, but those people we acknowledged yesterday, those children and those missing children."
Between 1857 and 1996, 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded schools.
An estimated 6,000 children died while attending the schools, although experts say the actual number could be much higher.
Lucien Wabanonik of the Anishinabe First Nation of Lac-Simon said that while he is a survivor of that system, he doesn't want his kids to be its victims.
"I don't want to give that to my children or my grandchildren," he said. "I want to stop this victimization. But we need help. We need Canadians."
Addressing the crowd, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon said the survivors' stories are an "immense gift" to a country still struggling with the legacy of residential schools.
"They are an open hand extended to all Canadians inviting us to rebuild bridges between communities," Simon said.
Simon said 10 years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report, "we may not be where we need to be, but survivors have opened hearts and minds."
"Let's keep going," she said. "We have all the tools we need to advance reconciliation."
Addressing the much larger crowd assembled on Parliament Hill Tuesday to mark the fifth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised that his government will "match remembrance with responsibility."
Wabanonik said that while he appreciated Carney's words, that responsibility has to be for the long term.
"We will see how things will be moving on in the next coming years," he said. "Not just one month. We have to look at that very long-term on this issue. So, I'm hoping that we're going to be doing this together."
"Today, as we raise this flag, let us remember those we lost," said Edna Elias, an Inuit survivor, shortly before the flag was lifted into the air to the sound of drumming.
"Let us honour those who survived and to promise our children a future where their languages, cultures and spirits will never be taken away from them again."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2025.
— With files from Alessia Passafiume
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
