Rolling your suitcase from the parking lot, up the staircase and into the grand, ivy-covered hotel you might race right by the simple stone monument in the garden, but once you spot it, you can’t take your eyes off the stoic children holding hands.
The girl and boy stand tall, with bare feet, short hair, expressionless faces and uniforms. It is the first day of school and they have been stripped of their traditional clothes, moccasins and long hair. They may or may not know it, but they are about to be separated. The girl braces to protect her frightened younger brother, her left hand entwined with his, her right hand a fist tucked into her dress.
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The monument by sculptor Cameron Douglas is called ‡Kamnin’tik (“The Children”) and it honours all those who were forced to attend residential schools. A plaque details how the girl’s clenched hand “is a small fist clinging to her culture” and how it represents “the little fight that every child fought.”