Renewed focus on aboriginal experience in Medicine Hat

Mercer will speak about her life story during a presentation at the Esplanade this week.

She says the Kamloops residential school discovery has turned a much needed spotlight on indigenous culture.

“My great grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and my siblings all went to residential school,” Mercer said, adding the government sponsored facilities have had a direct impact on her and her siblings.

“(My mother) never told any one us, the 13 children, that she loved us. Her mothering skills were less than perfect, for sure, but she was never taught that as a child and growing up there was a lot of abuse in residential schools.”

Meanwhile, the Miywasin Friendship Centre and Tourism Medicine Hat have relaunched plans for the Miywasin Story Tour.

Among the highlights, an Indigenous/Métis guide will delve into hand-painted illustrated storyboards at the Saamis Tepee, and attendees will visit Saratoga Park, where several Métis families settled in the early 1900’s.

The tour was slated to start last year, but COVID-19 got in the way.

“We have some incredibly unique stories that can be told. They’re not my stories to tell but they are stories that if told in an appropriate way will drive visitation and will excite and inform Medicine Hat residents as well,” said Jace Anderson with Tourism Medicine Hat.

Anderson says there’s strong interest in the aboriginal experience from both domestic and international travellers.

The tour is slated to begin in late spring or early summer 2022.

Mercer’s presentation, on the ongoing impact of residential schools, is set for Dec. 2 at 7:30p.m.

Residential school survivor Sophie Colehouse is also scheduled to speak.

by Darren Rathwell

Renewed focus on aboriginal experience in Medicine Hat

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