The Canadian government is designating two former Residential Schools to the Canadian Register of Historic Places, including the Portage La Prairie Residential School in Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba. National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks to Chief Dennis Meeches of the Long Plain First Nation, home of the Portage La Prairie Schoo,l about the impact of this decision. For over a century the federal government ran a Residential school program as a tool of genocide against First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. Tens of thousands of children were torn from their families, sent away to boarding schools and subjected to brutal physical and mental abuse in an effort to assimilate them into settler culture. The Federal Government says that adding the Portage La Prairie Residential School in Manitoba and Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia to the National Registry, will “help to educate all Canadians on the system and its consequences and ensure that this part of our history is never forgotten or repeated.”

A special thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan for providing the theme music for this podcast.

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced in Ottawa by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.