‘We come here for healing’: Saskatoon holds fifth annual truth and reconciliation powwow

Irene Nippi sees National Truth and Reconciliation Day as a way to show pride in a culture she was once told to abandon.

The elder from Kinistin Saulteaux First Nation was six years old when she was first sent to a residential school, an experience that compels her to take part in reconciliation ceremonies.

“I went to a residential school for a long time, and there are a lot of things that happened like sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and spiritual abuse,” said Nippi.

Beginning in the 19th century, over 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and communities and sent to church-run, government-funded residential schools where abuse...