Blanket for survivors

The following is the letter presented with blankets to survivors at the Indian Residential School monument ceremony on March 25, 2013

Dear Survivor:

On behalf of the Anishinabek Nation, it is my great privilege to present this tribute blanket to you, a survivor of the Indian residential school system.
As a child, you were stolen from our embrace to attend Indian residential school.  Through no fault or choice of your own, you were taken from our embrace by others who had the blatant objective to assimilate you into languages, traditions and customs, religions, and ways of life that are not our own.
As an adult, you may have found yourself living between two worlds – one world that you had been taught about and another world that is at the centre of who you are.
This tribute blanket is intended to symbolize the Anishinabek Nation holding you, a survivor, in our embrace – both as the child that you were and as the adult that you have become.  We embrace you, a survivor, as our family and as our citizen.  We embrace you, a survivor, for the experiences that you endured and survived while at Indian residential school.  We embrace you, a survivor, for your resiliency of spirit for persevering despite what you endured while at Indian residential school.  We embrace you, a survivor, for your strength in sharing your truth as to what happened in those schools, so that it is never forgotten and it never happens again.  We embrace the healing that must occur.
We honour you.

Miigwetch,
Patrick Wedaseh Madahbee

Grand Council Chief, Anishinabek Nation