For four days, the Sacred Fire will light up the Arbour in the Chief Williams Pow Wow Grounds to honour the 215 Kamloops Residential School Victims.
“We wanted to honour those 215 lost souls down at the Kamloops Indian Band, hold them up in a way and give our people a chance to grieve,” says Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars, “The Sacred Fire is something that we hold close to our hearts, it’s a process that we’re going through and it’s going to give everyone the opportunity to show their respects and make an offering, and get a chance to hear the drums and hear the prayers, and hear the songs and help them in their grieving process.”
The fire will be lit at 5:00 PM today and will stay lit until Saturday, with an honouring ceremony at 5:00 PM each day, which everyone is invited to attend.
COVID-19 regulations will be in effect during the ceremony with a cap of 50 people allowed at any given time. Sellars says he is comfortable with the safety plan. “Our health team has been preparing this over the last four days, and I have confidence in our staff that it’s going to be done in a safe and socially distanced atmosphere,” Sellars says. Williams Lake First Nation community members and Residential School Survivors will be given first priority at the ceremonies.
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