THUNDER BAY -- Grace Esquega remembers seeing coffins everywhere in her community one summer when she was a young girl.
She believes she was about six years old that summer when the remains of Gull Bay First Nation ancestors started washing up on the shores of the community.
“It wasn’t a very pleasant time,” said Esquega, now an elder in the community.
Esquega shared her memories during an apology ceremony to the First Nation community members from Ontario Power Generation for their development projects more than 80 years ago on the Nipigon River and the diversion of the Ogoki River in the 1940s that caused extensive flooding in Gull Bay.
The flooding even desecrated the community’s sacred burial grounds.
“It was that one particular summer anyway that I remember what was happening because all I could see was coffins all over the place that were being built and made and then buried in a new area,” said Esquega.
Families had to endure the pain of losing their loved ones all over again as their remains were exhumed and then relocated.
“I think that’s the part that really hurt the most,” Esquega said.
OPG’s senior vice-president Mike Martelli delivered the apology and it was accepted by the community.
For Esquega, hearing the apology meant the organization recognizes there was a wrong. And now that the apology has been made and accepted, it’s time to forgive.
Martelli said it felt good to see the members of the community accept the apology and he could see it’s something they’ve been waiting a long time to hear.
“It’s very important to put closure to what was done in the past. This is a momentous occasion,” he said, adding it allows OPG and Gull Bay to move forward in their relationship on future development projects.
Gull Bay First Nation Chief Wilfred King agreed that now the community can build a positive relationship with OPG.
“I think he was very contrite in his apology. It’s a first step in moving forward,” he said.
King noted the most profound effect the flooding had on his community was the desecration of the burial ground and that some remains were washed away in Lake Nipigon and never recovered.
In November, the community voted in favour of a $12.5 million settlement with OPG and King said the money will be distributed per capita.
He said community members could be receiving their cheques as early as next week.
