CANADA
Cape Breton Post
By Laura Jean Grant Cape Breton Post
ESKASONI — Residential school survivors like Lottie Johnson will be remembered and honoured for generations to come in the form of a monument located in the heart of the community.
The 68-year-old resident of Eskasoni is a traditional teacher with the aboriginal program Journey of Healing, a certified addictions counsellor, and a local member of a survivors committee of the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“What survivors have always wanted here in our community was a monument so we had meetings with survivors trying to decided what we wanted,” said Johnson.
The end result was unveiled Friday outside the Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselling Association of Nova Scotia office in Eskasoni, near the church. The monument features a special dedication “to the Eskasoni survivors who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School as well as their families and our community who have endured the intergenerational impacts.” A poem, titled “I Lost My Talk” by celebrated Mi’kmaq poet Rita Joe is engraved on the monument alongside the dedication.
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