Hundreds of Shoes Placed in Front of Kahnawake Church After Remains Found at BC Residential School
Written by Paul Graif on 30 May 2021
The count is already approaching 500 pairs of shoes left in front of the St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Kahnawake. The shoes, a powerful symbol commemorating the 215 souls discovered buried at the former Kamploops, BC residential school. Leaving the shoes in front of the church began after Jessica Oesterreich of Kahnawake made a post on Facebook Saturday morning.
“I saw something similar on Facebook and thought if it can be done at that church, it can be done at ours,” Oesterreich told K1037 News. “It doesn’t matter where the 215 bodies were found. Every Catholic Church is part of a larger body responsible for what happened to those children, as well as those taken from our community. If we don’t remind them of what they’ve done they’ll continue to operate in our communities without any culpability.”
Oesterreich says she has been overwhelmed by the response from the community. “People have been very motivated to follow through with the request. Many feel the same way I do, powerless as an individual to really hold a large entity like the church or government responsible in a meaningful way, but fully able to remind them of what they did.”
A walk is planned for Sunday afternoon in Kahnawake. Organizer Tammy Whitebean says it will begin at the Knights of Columbus, head through the tunnel and end up at the greenspace by Highway 132. A tobacco burning will then take place.
