Mount Royal University honours residential school survivor
Mount Royal University presented Blackfoot Elder Miiksika’am with an honorary Doctor of Laws Tuesday at an outdoor drive-in convocation ceremony.
“It’s a happy moment in my life,” said elder Miiksika’am.
Miiksika’am was sent to the Old Sun Residential School near Gleichen at the age of six.
His mother told him that he had to stay there a long time, never speak his language, and he had to learn English.
However, despite the oppression of the residential school system, Miiksika'am never lost sight of who he was.
“Today I look back and it taught me courage to not take that spirit away from me,” said Miiksika’am. “My language, who I am. They never succeeded, that drove me to set my sights to what I am going to be.”
Miiksika’am went on to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces and to lead his community as a spiritual leader.
The recent discovery of 215 children’s remains in Kamloops this week weighs heavily on Miiksika’am.
“It puts a heaviness in our hearts,” said Miiksika’am. “Anybody that passes away, especially children, everyone feels the emotion of that loss.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.