91裸聊视频淪o those of you that are here today, please, we ask you, not to bury these children again under history books or text books.91裸聊视频�

These were the words of Melanie Jansen, who organized a gathering at Marine Park in Salmon Arm on June 2 at the request of a young Indigenous girl, in order to honour the 215 children whose remains were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

She emphasized that the finding of the remains is not history.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 happening. We have survivors here with us today. We have people who have lost people in their family in the residential schools here with us today. We have people that know those people. It91裸聊视频檚 happening right now. It is not history,91裸聊视频� she said.

91裸聊视频淚t is our real life every moment that we breathe. It91裸聊视频檚 happening. And the fact that 215 little babies were just found is devastating.91裸聊视频�

She said ceremonies and sacred fires have been happening at the Kamloops residential school 91裸聊视频渂ecause they want to help our tiny ancestors cross over the way they should have a long time ago.91裸聊视频�

The gathering was to honour the children, as well as their families, and the families that have been affected because they are relatives or they went to the school.

91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e here to honour those people and we are here to make sure that this part of our lives, this part of our Indigenous history, this journey that we walk right now, that it is not forgotten. That these kids aren91裸聊视频檛 forgotten in a month, or six months, or next year.

91裸聊视频淲e need to make sure that this is something people know about, are educated about, how devastating it was,91裸聊视频� Jansen said.

91裸聊视频淐anada is an amazing place to live and we all know that. But it has got some history that puts blood on the flag, and we cannot, we cannot forget that, we cannot pretend it didn91裸聊视频檛 happen.91裸聊视频�

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Jansen urged people to always remember the children.

91裸聊视频淲e need to keep them in the forefront of our mind because our people need to heal91裸聊视频� and we do that together as a nation, as Canada.91裸聊视频�

She pointed to the dozens of people present at the park, all because they felt it in their hearts to be there and support.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 asking you to remember always. To teach your children, your family. To teach the friends that don91裸聊视频檛 know about this.91裸聊视频�

Elder Jules Arnouse offered a prayer and spoke about his life as a survivor of the Kamloops residential school.

He said he was there about nine years. He said beatings and straps happened every other day.

91裸聊视频淏ut you never cried, and we never gave up and we carried on. I listened to my older brother. He said, 91裸聊视频榙on91裸聊视频檛 cry, that91裸聊视频檚 what they want to see.91裸聊视频� At that time I didn91裸聊视频檛. It took me over 50, 60 years to cry. I had to go to Edmonton to a treatment centre.91裸聊视频�

He said a woman there helped him, and he is now calm inside again, without anger.

91裸聊视频淚 really appreciate that lady.91裸聊视频�

Arnouse said he saw bones near an incinerator at the school, which his friend told the teacher about.

He said today there is no evidence the incinerator was once there. The area is cemented over like the gazebo at Marine Park and there are picnic tables and green grass.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 glad to be able to talk about it,91裸聊视频� he said.

Following the prayer, Lenny Billy and Ty Norman drummed and sang the Ancestor Song.

Then the gathering grew quiet, as two minutes and 15 seconds of silence were observed in honour of the children.

Despite the 30-degree heat, several Indigenous dancers in regalia, both children and adults, performed a healing dance, followed by another inter-tribal dance which members of the public were invited to join.