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Today was one of those days that had us doing some thinking.
We went to see the Secwepemc Native Heritage Park. The museum and park are built on the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School which was established in 1890 and was operated by the Catholic Church until 1964. The fact that the school was in existence until 1964 was a bit of a shock to me as my youngest sister Debbie was born in 1964 and that does not seem so long ago to me.
I do not have any photos from inside the museum as they do not allow photos inside. However we watched a 20 minute video about the Secwepemc - commonly called the Shuswap - and then toured the museum which contained lots of information on their way of life and of the residential school. Jack and I were both saddened by the concept of the residential school where native children were taken from their families and forced to live at the school - punished if they used their own language and customs.
As we walked around the park which contained several reconstructed "pit houses" which were used in the winter by the Secwepemc we pondered the question about how would live be different now if instead of making the natives change to our language, religion and ways we simply had co-existed each learning from the other.
Yes there would have been another religion added to the mixture but perhaps those folks that are searching for a source of spirituality that they can not find in "conventional" religion could have found peace and strength from nature. Perhaps learning from their medicine could have led to cures for diseases we are struggling with - cancer and ALS to name a couple. Would we have so many issues with the environment?
Some things to think about.
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