"It was so hard for us," remembers Ross. "We had to work in the mornings very early before we even had breakfast. We were hunger a lot of times. We got strapped for nothing, for speaking Cree.” Ross says he has a lot of memories from the time he spent in the residential school, “all bad memories."

Residential school support worker Tom Roberts says the monument is a dedication to the people who passed through the doors of the two schools that once operated in La Ronge. He says the stone will stand so people can remember and reflect. "It is for them, not to try to remember what happened here, but that there was a school here and there was abuse here. We want to make sure it is never forgotten."

The unveiling was held in part with the Woodland Cree Gathering opening ceremonies hosted by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. For Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, a survivor herself, emotions were at an all time high. She is the third generation in her family to attend residential school. Her parents and grandmother also survived the experience.  

Struggling to speak through her tears, Cook-Searson explained the power of seeing the elders and their resilience when they see their own faces in the photos engraved upon the monument stone. "To see the elders that attended school here, standing there knowing they were once children here. Yet, they're still standing there proud."  

Many of the elders in attendance were happy to be honoured in the ceremony for their experiences at the schools. For Ross, he says although he was abused during his short stay at the Lac La Ronge Indian Residential School, he is grateful for the little education he did receive.  "I don't know where I would be if I didn't go to school like today I am able to speak a little bit of English I learned from this school. I'm very glad I went school even though I was abused."