More importantly, Bryce suspected that the school run by the church did not reveal the true extent of the tragedy.

The Indian Affairs Department ignored his warning, and in 1921, Bryce was forced to retire. But he was not idle.The following year, Bryce published a report himself, and the title was undoubtedly picky. Story of national crime. He passed away ten years later.

Blackstock, a professor at McGill University and executive director of the Aboriginal Children and Family Care Association, said that she visited Bryce’s grave in 2008 to “thank him for everything.”

Bryce incorporated “a hot poker stick into the myth that people didn’t know better at the time, or even if they knew it, they didn’t care,” Blystock said. “He knows and cares, and let Canada know.”

She made up her mind that every visitor to the Canadian National Cemetery and Beechwood National Historic Site should know Bryce and helped him get his plaque near the cemetery.

Bryce’s then 93-year-old granddaughter attended the unveiling ceremony in August 2015. She remembered that her grandfather was a child-loving person and always lamented that his warnings fell on deaf ears.

Bryce’s plaque is one of several plaques added or modified in Beechwood Cemetery in recent years to recognize the role of some people buried there in the Canadian boarding school system.

Bryce’s “plaque first,” Brycestock said. “The real challenge comes from the second plaque, and that is Duncan Campbell Scott.”

“That plaque needs to be revised”

There is already a plaque in Scott’s cemetery not far from Bryce. According to Blackstock, the problem is the story it tells — or more importantly, the story it doesn’t tell.

“This man is dazzling: Federal poet, all these other types of things, and [the plaque] It is facing the parking lot. I thought to myself that the plaque needs to be revised. “

Yes, Scott is a widely acclaimed poet and writer, but as a senior official of the Department of Indian Affairs in the early 20th century, he also vowed to “get rid of the Indian problem” and stipulated that children under two must Go to boarding school. Seven and fifteen years old.

It was Scott who eventually killed Bryce’s report and ignored his request to improve school conditions.

However, the plaque near Scott’s grave does not mention these.

“My concern is that the survivors of the boarding school will go to see Bryce and pass by that school on the way,” Blackstock said.

She called Roger Bolt, the president of the cemetery at the time, to prepare to fight, but was surprised by his response.

“He said,’How do we do this?'” Blackstock recalled. “This is also a good teaching for me, right? We are programmed to have to work hard to get the correct historical narration, but here is someone who is persuaded by the documents and just wants to do the right thing.”

Scott’s plaque was removed that day and was soon replaced by a new plaque, which mentioned his rightful place among famous Canadian poets, but also noted the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the policies Scott helped develop and implement constituted cultural genocide.

“We make sure [the plaque] It was done in a solemn and respectful way, but we wanted to make sure… As Duncan Campbell Scott said in one of his poems, “the shadows are shining” and history must be told correctly. Here,” Blackstock said.

“It must be admitted that not all inheritances are equal. Therefore, although his poetic contribution is important, it is overshadowed by his role in the boarding school.”

Provide “missing” elements

After that, Beechwood began to look for other people buried in his land, and their stories needed to be retelled through the lens of the 21st century.

Nicholas Flood Davin is a lawyer, newspaper editor, politician, and a well-known advocate of women’s suffrage. In 1879, he was the author of the “Indian and Mixed-Blood Industrial School Report,” which urged the federal government to establish a boarding school system.

Lying in the nearby mausoleum lies William MacDougall, the father of the Confederacy. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Rupert Land and the Northwest Territories in 1869, but was arrested by Louis when he tried to reach Fort Garry. · The rebels of Louis Riel repelled.

According to reports, McDougall asked 1,000 British troops to help suppress the Metis uprising.

Together with the plaques of Bryce and Scott, the plaques of Davin and McDougall form the core of what Beechwood Cemetery calls the “historical journey of reconciliation.”

“We believe in reconciliation, we believe in the conversations we can have,” said Nick McCarthy, director of marketing, communications and community outreach at Cemetery. “This is not about rewriting history, nor is it about changing history. It is about providing missing elements.”

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Aboriginal Children and Family Care Association, said that every visitor to Ottawa Beachwood Cemetery should know about Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce. The terrible conditions experienced by indigenous children in boarding schools “whistle.” 1:35

‘You want to tell the truth’

Since the start of the tour in 2014, hundreds of school groups and other guests have participated. Last Sunday, it opened to the public.

The free tour presents these people as complex roles they used to be, but it did not cause any sensation. McCarthy believes that the cemetery is the perfect place for this kind of liquidation.

“This is a sacred space, right? So this is a place you should… be reserved, you should have conversations, you should have discussions, you should speak in an open way, and in a very The way of reconciliation,” McCarthy said. “So when you talk about the dead, you don’t necessarily want to say bad things, but you want to tell the truth.”

A more modern member of this tour is Olive Patricia Dickason, who McCarthy sees as the “mother of aboriginal studies” in Canada, whose pioneering work is still paving the way for reconciliation.

McCarthy said that the cemetery is looking for other people’s stories—noble, shameful, or somewhere in between—that needs to be told truthfully.

“It’s time to truly share this history and admit that we did something wrong, that we need to move forward, and that reconciliation is an act… but keeping silent is also an act against reconciliation,” McCarthy said.

Blackstock believes that other cities and cemeteries in Canada can learn from Beechwood’s book.

“In many cases, I think we can use these as teaching tools,” she said. “If we as a society have the courage to learn, and if the government ultimately trusts us in the truth, I think we can really learn from the past in a truly constructive way.”