Group marches to honour those lost to the residential school system

Daniel Magiskan and his brother grew up not knowing they had a lost a brother.

Too young to remember and with no pictures of his older brother, Magiskan was 20 years old when he learned about the brother who had gone away to a residential school and never came back.

That’s why the Aroland First Nation man decided to join Ronnie and Nancy Moonias from Neskantaga First Nation and about 20 others walk from Nakina to Thunder Bay to honour those lost in the residential school system.

"There are a lot of people who don’t know anything about residential schools," Magiskan said. "What we’re doing here is to make awareness of what happened and most of the stories I’ve heard are mainly the same thing that happened to them.

"As far as healing is concerned, it’s going to be hard, but we’re trying. It gives me strength that this is at least going somewhere rather than just holding it back."

The walkers began their journey on June 2 and have met hardship on the way. They lost one residential school survivor to what is believed to have been a heart attack. His two daughters walking with him finished the journey in his name.

Ronnie Moonias has been thinking of doing the walk for five years now and he said he felt it would be a good way to let people know residential school students are still surviving.

"I thought about the people who went to residential schools and I thought about the people who passed away," he said. "I thought this was a good time."