St. Albert city council has reaffirmed its support for the proposed Healing Garden site north of the Sturgeon River, but it’s still unclear who will pay for additional cost of the project.
But the importance of having this project built, and on the site the committee chose, is of paramount importance to committee member Hazel McKennitt.
She spoke to council Sept. 19, and outlined the horrors she lived through as a residential school survivor. For her, the abuse she suffered began at six years old and lasted a full decade from 1954 to 1965.
Despite being in the same school as her two sisters, they were not allowed to sit together for meals and were not allowed to speak Cree. They were expected to speak English, which was taught by nuns who spoke French.
McKennitt said the abuse was rampant, and she personally witnessed and experienced many examples of it, including repeatedly being exposed to the carcinogen DDT, to which she attributes her two battles with breast cancer.
“The Healing Garden will honour the children who died in residential school,” she said. “The story of the legacy of residential schools must be preserved. It must become part of our history.”
She reiterated the preferred location along the city’s historical Founders’ Walk project is where the garden should be, so it’s prominent and allows children today to learn about what happened in the not-so-distant past.
But while councillors unanimously backed the motion reaffirming the site, debate around the council table left doubt as to whether the city would provide any more funding.
The project’s initial cost estimate was around $406,000, but the committee revised the design to bring the cost down to around $176,000. Since then, however, geotechnical issues discovered at the site have increased the cost estimate.
Council defeated a motion July 11 to allocate an additional $184,000 to the project, and directed the committee to look at other options.
Cultural services director Kelly Jerrott explained Sept. 19 the Healing Garden committee had examined two possible other sites at Heritage Park near the grain elevators, but both were found lacking. One was on a cliff and the other in the middle of a parking lot.
Jerrott said after reviewing costs there would be little cost saving by changing sites.
Coun. Sheena Hughes balked at that, asking why more time wasn’t spent examining alternate sites since the project won’t be built until next year regardless.
“I look at this and it’s saying we can either build it in a swamp, we can build it on a cliff, or we can build it in the middle of a freeway,” she said. “You’re saying the other two don’t look feasible, so let’s build it in the middle of the swamp.”
Jerrott replied the committee, in consultation with the affected community, determined it was the best site.
Coun. Cathy Heron said she was troubled by the $320,000 price tag, and suggested a location in Kingswood Park, near Poundmaker’s Lodge.
Coun. Tim Osborne, who sits on the committee, said he was “taken aback” by the discussion he was hearing and urged council to support the project, considering its significance to residents who were so deeply affected by the residential school system.
“Referring to a site that’s been blessed by an elder as swampland, I think it shows a lack of respect,” he said.
Hughes clarified she was referring to the geotechnical composition of the site and hadn’t intended to be disrespectful.
Coun. Bob Russell, while not commenting on the city’s potential contributions, said he intended to lobby the Roman Catholic Church to ask for more funding considering the church’s role in the residential school system.
“I think it’s time to pony up, especially in this case,” he said.
Coun. Wes Brodhead questioned why the issue of $184,000 was so difficult for councillors to accept when they so easily approve tens of millions of dollars for recreational facilities.
“We can argue dollars, but I tell you what, it’s offensive when we tell them ‘Go somewhere else,’ because we’re just perpetrating what we’ve done over the past one-hundred years in my mind,” he said. “This is something we need to do.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse described the schools as “the bleakest page in Canadian history,” urged council to support the project. Crouse also said he plans to give notice of motion on creating a Mayor’s task force on truth and reconciliation.
