Calgary announces location for Indian Residential School Memorial

Mayor Jyoti Gondek stood on a plot of land near the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers by Fort Calgary and marked it as the place for an Indian Residential School (IRS) Memorial.

She made the announcement on behalf of the city and the Fort Calgary Preservation Society on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation Saturday as part of the opening ceremonies for Orange Shirt Day.

Gondek says the feedback was “overwhelmingly positive” about the choice of location.

“This is where it began. This site is incredibly important to Indigenous communities. And it is absolutely appropriate for a permanent memorial,” she told reporters Saturday.

A photo of the plaque that will be the site of the Indian Residential School Memorial in Calgary on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2023. (Tate Laycraft, CityNews image)

A temporary design was made by Indigenous communities across the city at the Municipal Building in the wake of the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in June 2021.

The city’s Indigenous Relations Office, along with partners and those from local Indigenous communities, began working together to design a memorial in November 2021.

An online portal was created to receive feedback from Calgarians on the memorial, and it saw around 9,500 visitors and got more than 730 responses, the city says.

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Gondek says with the site selected, the city is proceeding to design work, with construction estimated to start in 2024.

“Once the process of construction will begin here, there’ll be a conversation about any components that need to be carried forward. How do we incorporate them? How do we make sure we honour the folks that constructed the original Memorial? There’s still a lot of conversations to be had,” she said.

“I appreciate Calgarians understanding that we had to do this properly. We had to do it meaningfully. And that’s why it took the time it did.”

Mayor Jyoti Gondek speaks with reporters in Calgary on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Tate Laycraft, CityNews image)

Meanwhile, when it comes to the design and plans on how it will look, the mayor says feedback from Indigenous groups will be integral to moving the process forward, as it has very “colonial principles.”

“One of the most amazing things about working on a project like this is giving it space and time to breathe and understand what we need to do. And sometimes that sounds a little strange, but we have very colonial principles when it comes to constructing things. We have a plan, and then we build it,” she said.

“We don’t know what other revelations there may be between now and the completion of the design phase. And I just want to give this important memorial the space and time it needs to be done.”

The mayor says more information will be released when the development moves forward.

-With files from Lauryn Heintz