Hear Our Voices

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“Hear Our Voices: Michel People & Residential Schools,” 2024

(courtesy of the Musée Héritage Museum)

Opening: July 13 at 1 pm

The Friends of Michel Society is pleased to present Hear Our Voices: Michel People and Residential Schools, an exhibition that shares Michel People’s stories both as direct and intergeneration Survivors of Residential Schools.

The exhibition debuts July 9 at the host location, the Musée Héritage Museum (part of the Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert). 

For some people of the former Michel Band #472, this is the first opportunity to share their experiences outside of their immediate families. The exhibit provides information about Residential Schools and focuses on those institutions where Michel children were taken, away from their loved ones.

“We wanted to document and be a witness to those Michel People who survived Residential School,” says Maureen Callihoo Ligtvoet of the Friends of Michel Society. “We also want everyone to understand the impact Residential Schools had not only on Survivors, but on Michel People who came after,” she adds.

From October 2022 to January 2023, 29 Michel People shared their experiences with Residential Schools as part of the Friends of Michel Society’s Residential School Memorialization Project. These interviews are the centerpiece of this exhibit collaboration with the Musée Héritage Museum.

“Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike need to understand the impacts of Residential School, “says Dayle Callihoo-Campbell of the Friends of Michel Society. “There are those who either downplay or do not believe Residential Schools happened. As Michel People, we know that so many of us are impacted. Now, we have the opportunity to document our truth and have our voices heard, “Dayle adds.

The Friends of Michel Society (FMS) was established in 1991 to support Michel Band #472 descendants and advocate for the reinstatement of the Michel Band. At the request of the Government of Canada, FMS recently joined together with other groups committed to these same objectives to form the Michel Callihoo Nation Society. The Michel Callihoo Nation Society is now engaged in discussions with the Government of Canada to create a new Indian Act Band.

For more information on the Michel Callihoo Nation Society, please visit their website: www.michelcallihoonationsociety.com