"You are not alone. We hear you and honour you."
"This red ribbon signifies the loss of the children that were taken from the ancestors of our people and it signifies the voice of these children, the little voices that were not heard.
The beads represent the four directions, red, yellow, black, and white. All children of all races need their stories to be told by our elders who know and to the ones whom still feel the pain and still mourn their babies."
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| Stanley and Deborah Normand |
Cori and I had the privilege of meeting Stanley and Deborah Normand during Aboriginal Day celebrations at the Forks. With minimal help they had prepared 500 commemorative ribbon pins to honour the many aboriginal children of residential schools who were taken from their homes and families. Stanley's vision was to hand out the ribbon pins to all festival goers, however, in a very short time the ribbon stock was depleted.
Stanley is now committed to attending next year's celebrations with many more ribbons to hand out. Given the daunting nature of ribbon pin preparation, he would like to recruit help so that he can have sufficient stock to hand out to the many who wish to wear the ribbon as a tribute of honour and remembrance of the children who had no voice.
*Those interested in assisting Stanley can contact Karla directly or respond to this post by leaving a comment.
Submitted by Karla
Photos by Karla
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I think this idea provides a way of showing how we all need to come together. Maybe we could work on making some ribbons to help out while we are having our get togethers as we could talk and act at the same time and support their initiative in a tangible way.
ReplyDeleteCori
You are absolutely right Cori - We all need to be more creative in our efforts to reach out and make connections. We all like to complain about what is not working. Our path forward will only have positive outcomes unless we extend ourselves. We need to make the effort to understand each other's lives and make contributions to repairing the relationship. The pins that Stanley and Deborah Normand made have a great deal of meaning. They represent those children whose voices were not heard and remind us of ruptured relationships that need healing.
ReplyDeleteMichelle
This is a powerful symbol, and opportunity to be in solidarity with all those who experienced these tragic fractures in their families. Thanks for sharing this. Gareth
ReplyDeleteI would love to help make ribbons, especially doing so as a group, while we meet; a great way to connect our kinaesthetic exercises with our minds and our hearts ...
ReplyDeleteKathleen