Bede wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:09 am

withthewesterlies wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:24 pm Reading this post I am very glad that some people have sympathy and understanding for the people to which the North was their home first. For the people that have so loudly expressed the opposite opinion now is the time to learn about what happened and change your ideas. To entrench ones self in denial is the wrong path to follow.

The airplane as an inanimate object is a beautiful triumph of engineering, however, as a symbol it can be many different things to many different people. To the great people the North who were sheltered from the devastation of settlement until the bush plane arrived after WW2, it is a symbol of the destruction of their way of life and their families. I want anyone who does not sympathize with the survivors of residential schools to please take the time and imagine what it would have been like. Imagine being forcibly taken from your home as a child by an RCMP Officer and sent in a Norseman to a school so very far away to forget who you are and the culture that your civilization was built on. Then decide what you would think of the aircraft from which you watched your parents devastated crying faces and your community disappear from. What would an airplane mean to you if this was your first memory of it.


As pilots we must acknowledge the entire history of the Bush Plane in Canada. To us the Bush Plane is a symbol of exploration and the opening of Northern Canada. But we must also recognized that to the people who were already there long before the first float ever touched the water of their lakes it is a very different symbol.

That’s an excellent post.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said the monument was significant, both as a commemoration of past mistakes and as a signpost towards a brighter future.

“This story is not a very pleasant story for our people,” he said. “It’s a very dark chapter in our history. Today we honour the survivors of the residential school system and those that did not survive, that died in the residential school system. Some are buried in the back of the churches, in the back of the residential schools, in unmarked graves. There’s no monument for them. This is their monument. This is their time to be remembered.”

That the plaque was erected in partnership with the City of Thompson is significant, said Settee.

“It’s a big step towards reconciliation, meaningful reconciliation, not just rhetoric but we’re actually making those significant steps to reconciliation.”

Mayor Colleen Smook said the symbolism of the bush plane wasn’t considered from all angles when the tribute to aviation was developed.

rookiepilot wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:57 am https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatch ... SMcc-Rg-5k

750 more....

Bede wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 12:48 pm

rookiepilot wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:57 am https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatch ... SMcc-Rg-5k

750 more....

Just to clarify, there is a slight difference. The 215 in BC were buried without knowledge that they were there. Basically burying the dead kids out back like you do with an animal. The Cowessess was a grave yard that had the gravestones removed a while ago. All very tragic, but an important difference.

No doubt there will be a bunch more like the BC 215.