A bush plane monument┬аin Thompson, Man., meant as a tribute to┬аaviation in the North also serves as a painful reminder to residential school survivors who were flown out of┬аtheir communities to the schools.
“They just loaded us in the plane and that’s it. We didn’t have no choice at all,” said 76-year-old residential school survivor┬аRene Jobb,┬аfrom Southend┬аReindeer Lake, Sask.
A couple of years ago, Jobb and his daughter┬аtravelled┬аto the northern Manitoba city for a meeting.
While exploring the city,┬аthey came across the monument featuring a┬а1946┬аNorseman┬аfloat┬аplane, which┬аwas restored by volunteers and placed there┬аin 2008 by members of the┬аSpirit Way┬аtrail as a tribute to the aviation pioneers in the North.
Jobb┬аrealized┬аit was the same type of┬аplane that was used to transport him from Southend┬аto Flin Flon, Man.,┬аon the way to Guy Hill Indian Residential School in The Pas, Man.
“A lot of kids were wrestled to go in the plane,” he said.
“They just put ’em on a plane and took off from there. It was all about crying from there to Flin Flon.”
Jobb was about eight years old┬аthe first time he was put on the plane and sent to residential school.┬а
He spent four years from 1953-1957 at Guy Hill and said, “what had happened to us, it wasn’t very nice.”
When he saw the plane┬аin Thompson, he said it brought up a lot of painful memories.
“I was standing there beside that plane, [and thought] boy, there must be a lot of tears here inside the plane,” said Jobb.┬а
Rachel Merasty, Jobb’s daughter, said he has been educating her family on his residential school experience since they were old enough to understand what happened.┬а
“To see the actual plane that he went in, it brought it even more to reality,” she said.
“It hit me hard.”
Reminder of the North’s history
The monument┬аsits on the┬аmain entry road into the city, making it unavoidable for many of the First Nations people visiting from surrounding┬аcommunities.
Andrina Dumas, whose mother was taken to Guy Hill residential school via bush plane, thinks it should be removed.
“It pisses me off that it’s up there and everybody knows what it was used for,” said Dumas.
“I think it should be taken down and moved somewhere else, like maybe the float plane base that’s in that same area. That’s what it’s supposed to represent.”
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Elder┬аMarie Ballantyne┬аsaid that’s a common view.
“It’s a part of the history of Thompson itself and a lot of the residential school survivors have a difficult time [seeing it],” she said.┬а
“I talked to a lot of people that really would like to see the plane go down. But then that is part of the history of this area.”
Manitoba Keewatinook Okimakinak, representing northern First Nations chiefs,┬аand the Thompson Urban Aboriginal Strategy┬аplaced a plaque in 2019┬аnear the plane to mark the role the planes had in transporting children to residential schools.┬аIt was┬аused as a gathering place after the announcement late last month that a ground-penetrating radar survey revealed potential student remains on the grounds of a former residential school in┬аKamloops, B.C.
Ballantyne, who has lived in Thompson since the late 1970s, said┬аshe feels like it should stay as a reminder of the history of┬аthe North.
“That plane … it goes back way back to when Thompson first established itself,” said Ballantyne.
“That plaque has an impact because it is a place where a lot of the survivors go …┬аIt brings you back to the time when you were maybe at the residential school far away from home, not being able to go home.”
Jobb said that despite the memories that it brings up,┬аhe would like to visit the plane in Thompson again in the future.
