Teepee and residential school memorial at Grande Prairie high school vandalized

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

A teepee erected at Charles Spencer High School in Grande Prairie, Alta., for this year's Indigenous graduates containing a residential school memorial has been vandalized.

RCMP are investigating, but the school's Indigenous student support liaison says she hopes this incident sparks a much broader conversation in the community.

The teepee was set up on June 16 in preparation for a ceremony to honour the school's Indigenous graduates held on June 18, which took place without any issues. 

Following the ceremony, Indigenous student support liaison Fran Rogers, who is Woodland Cree and a member of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, said the teepee was left up for students to use as a place of reflection.

'It was almost like they were making a statement'

"I had painted a very large canvas banner and it had an orange handprint on it as a symbol to acknowledge the bodies that are being found at residential schools and we hung it up inside the teepee," she said.

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, Rogers said the teepee was again well received by the school community. 

"People were asking a lot of questions, [there was] a lot of dialogue. Students were very interested and the teepee was fine," said Rogers. 

But, the next day when Rogers and other school staff went to take the teepee down — they were horrified by what they found.

A table in the teepee had been damaged and dented down the middle, a bottle of alcohol had been left in the teepee, and the banner in memory of residential school victims had been torn down and smeared with human feces, which had also been left in the teepee.

"It was almost like they were making a statement, it seemed very deliberate," said Rogers. 

"There's a bottle of alcohol beside a pile of crap with this banner torn up and wrecked behind. It was very clear to me what that meant, and it was the fact that it was on National Indigenous Day was also very hurtful."

After reviewing surveillance tapes from the school, Rogers said three male teenagers were seen walking into the teepee late the night before, and then leaving a few minutes later. 

'I didn't want them to be as hurt as I was'

Rogers said she was upset by what she saw, and smelled, and after taking photos. She immediately began cleaning up the mess.

"I felt so hurt. I felt embarrassed and I didn't want the students of the school to see it. I didn't want them to be as hurt as I was," she said. 

And then, Rogers called the RCMP. 

"I did feel that it was very dismissive and I had to be very, very insistent that I wanted to make a statement. The initial response I got was 'what do you want us to do about it?' It was kind of a strange question," she said.

Ultimately Rogers said she was told to drop off the school's CCTV footage and photos of the damage, as well as make a written statement, which she has now done. 

Grande Prairie RCMP are investigating. 

"We did receive a complaint in regards to mischief," said Cpl. Shawn Graham. "We do have a file that's open and it's currently being investigated. All avenues of investigation are being looked at in regards to this."

Community conversation needed

Rogers said she hopes this incident opens the door to more conversations about the lived experiences of Indigenous people in Alberta.

"This might be a very dramatic incident and blatant racism. But these things occur all the time. We shouldn't just have these conversations about racism when it's dramatic because they exist every single day as micro-aggressions," she said.

"This is an opportunity for people to work together. That's the conversation that needs to come out of this. We're not concerned about outing people and we probably won't catch them. But we can catch each other and support each other."

Rogers has a message for those responsible for this situation, too.

"Had you been alone, would you have acted in the same way or was this a group thought? Were you not strong enough to make your own individual decision against hate?" she said.

"Maybe that's a question that if it could reach their ears and heart, they really need to ask themselves."

Support is available for anyone affected by the lingering effects of residential schools, and those who are triggered by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.