Run helps bring healing home

BIRTLE — For some participants, Saturday’s fifth annual Reconciliation Run was more than a 21.1-kilometre race.

It was a journey home.

“It feels special to run it, especially because of the ones that didn’t make it home,” said Anastasia Petrachuk, who travelled from Esterhazy, Sask., to participate in the run for the third year in a row.

“We’re essentially … taking their spirits home while we’re running.”

The run began around 9 a.m. near the ruins of the former Birtle Residential School, which is currently inaccessible as it is surrounded by private property. From there, the route wound south through the community of Birtle, following gravel and dirt back roads toward the Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation.

Before the runners set off, participants gathered for a ceremony. The race began with an honour song followed by the countdown.

Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation Chief Trechelle Bunn said said the event was inspired by the words of her late “unkan” — grandfather — Donald, a survivor of the Birtle Residential School.

“When I was young, my unkan would tell me stories about his time at the residential school and about how when he was there, he wanted nothing more than to just run away and go home,” Bunn told the Sun during the event. “But he saw the consequences of what happened to his classmates and friends who did try to run away and got caught.”

The experience became the foundation for an event that has brought runners, walkers, volunteers and community members from Canada, and sometimes from Australia, together to confront the history of residential schools while honouring survivors and those who never returned home.

The event was preceded by a healing walk in 2021, following the discovery of 215 suspected unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, Bunn said.

She said she began talking with her family about how they could bring healing to Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation while raising awareness about the residential school system.

The first walk covered the distance of a half marathon. After discussions with Dan Schwarz, who grew up in Birtle and helped with the event, the organizers decided to turn it into an annual half marathon.

The first official Reconciliation Run was held in September 2022.

Each year, the event begins with a ceremony at the former residential school site and ends in Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation with a community feast and an opportunity for survivors and participants to share their stories, the chief said.

Four years later, Bunn said the run has grown beyond what she initially imagined.

About 30 people participated in the first event, while this year 72 runners registered for the in-person race, along with about 14 or 15 volunteers.

The number was down from roughly 100 participants last year, but Bunn said the event now has several ways for people to participate, including a virtual run and a satellite event in Winnipeg.

Despite the rain and wind Saturday, she said those who showed up demonstrated their commitment to the event.

“We’ve been blessed the last four years to have really nice, beautiful, sunny weather,” Bunn said. “This year is different in terms of the weather, and those that showed up are willing to brave the rain and the wind and to honour the commitment they made by coming and signing up for the run.”

For Brandon resident Chris Hunt, the weather was no reason to stay home.

“Saturday marked my third time participating in the run,” he told the Sun. “I think it’s a real opportunity for reconciliation in a positive, good way.”

Hunt, who is a student success adviser at Assiniboine College’s Peters School of Business, said running has also played an important role in his own well-being, making the event’s combination of movement, remembrance and community particularly meaningful.

He recalled signs along the route featuring words associated with residential school survivors, including, “I wish I could run home.”

“And so I think in a way here we can kind of come together and run home for them,” Hunt said.

He and his wife were among several people from Brandon who made the trip, including a Brandon University student and an Assiniboine College colleague and alumnus.

Petrachuk’s sister, Elizabeth Fouillard, who participated in the event as a runner for two years, volunteered Saturday.

The sisters’ mother grew up in Birtle, and Fouillard said she appreciates the way people from different communities come together to honour those who attended Birtle Residential School.

“I think it is important to honour the people that came before us, and our ancestors, and the people who went to Birtle Residential School,” she said.

Kevin Chief, a Winnipeg resident, has attended the event since its beginning.

Originally from Pine Creek First Nation — Minegoziibe Anishinabe, Chief said Bunn reached out to him when she was developing the event, and he has continued to support it.

For Chief, the run is an opportunity to acknowledge a painful part of Canadian history while creating space for healing.

“When we run from things that are hard, when we try to ignore difficulties, it only makes things worse,” Chief said. “And so we got to confront it. We got to deal with it forthrightly. And the best way to do that is to do it together.”

Chief said the event also gives younger people an opportunity to see “the power of healing community.”

He planned to stay for the day’s community feast after completing the run.

“I’m a former basketball player,” he said. “So we traded our basketball shoes in for some running shoes, and we’re going to run and just be part of the community here with everybody.”

The route itself adds another layer to the experience.

The point-to-point course covers 21.1 kilometres, with runners travelling over hilly gravel and back roads toward the Birdtail community.

The terrain can be challenging, but the route also reflects paths that children may have travelled while trying to return home, Bunn said.

Remembering the past is part of healing, elder and knowledge keeper Joe Bunn reminded participants.

He spoke about the stories of former students, including the friendships they formed and the ways some found moments of happiness despite the conditions they experienced.

“Today’s run … is bringing awareness to it,” he said. “People do care about one another — and the things that happened in the past, we have to heal from it. And we are helping people heal today.”

For the Birdtail chief, the continued participation of runners and volunteers is part of that healing.

Bunn said the community remains committed to welcoming participants back each year.

“It’s been a real honour to welcome participants and volunteers to our beautiful community for the last five years,” she said.

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