“The reason we decided to do it this early,” said Mayor Maurice Beauregard, “is to give our councillors a chance to attend before they go off to work.”

The event was rather low-key, according to Beauregard who added, “We were going to contact Kitigan Zibi in Maniwaki but we thought after they lost their Grand Chief [Grand Chief John Boudrias, of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council], it was best to let them mourn their chief.

“It’s new and we weren’t necessarily prepared but we wanted to do something a little more meaningful than displaying an orange shirt,” Beauregard told The Equity.

Just before the flag was raised, he addressed those gathered, and said “I would like to begin by saying that we acknowledge we are on unceded Algonquin territory, and we are here today to raise a flag in commemoration for everything that has gone on with residential schools in Quebec.”

Beauregard said, “ We didn’t advertise it because we didn’t want to draw a crowd, so we decided to do a small, somber ceremony.”

“After we raise the flag we invite people of the community to come sit in our park and reflect about what’s going on in our community, what has happened in the past, what we can do about it in the future and where we go from here,” he concluded by thanking everyone who attended.

When asked why he attended, Campbell’s Bay Councillor Jean-Pierre Landry said, “It is important to be here today, considering the history. We heard of other incidents that took place with [Indigenous] people of Quebec, but to be honest I didn’t know about all of this, probably like many other Canadians who weren’t aware about the things that took place.”

“I didn’t even know that these schools existed and I find it very sad we kept this hidden away and tried to camouflage it all these years. It’s good that it finally came out, for the First Nations People, it might answer some questions they had,” said Landry.

“It must have been horrific for those children who thought they were being placed there and abandoned by their parents. We judge them today, we tend to diminish when all along we contributed,” Landry added.

Landry outlined the importance of recognizing our First Nations People, saying, “They’re a part of our history, they are the founders of our nation and we have lots to learn from them. This is our mural park which depicts our Campbell’s Bay history and what we’re honouring today is also a part of our history. We can’t forget that the voyageurs navigated right here on the river in front of our village.”

Landry said they want to be an open municipality, welcoming to all people, of all origins. “They’re always welcome and we want them to be a part of our continuation.”

When asked why she attended the ceremony, Campbell’s Bay resident Mavis Kluke said, “It’s important to acknowledge the wrong that was done, the corrupt things from the past so that the proper respect is given.”

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