This Opinion piece is by Chris Tyrone Ross, a member of the Red Earth Cree Nation and a freelance videographer, editor, graphic designer and emerging filmmaker.

For more information about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

I was hit hard by the news earlier this summer of the gravesites of 215 Indigenous children found at an old residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. 

I drove my oldest son, who is seven, to the legislative building here in Regina to see a memorial people had made out of children’s shoes, teddy bears and backpacks to honour these children. 

I couldn’t help but