Every Child Matters - Kms By Kids for Kids

First Nations friends and family were consulted out of respect before publishing this campaign. 

We are now 11 North Vancouver kids aged 5 - 11 raising money and awareness for the The Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS) a provincial organization with a twenty-year history of providing services to Indian Residential School Survivors: https://www.irsss.ca/. We would like to acknowledge that our school, Sherwood Park Elementary, and homes are located on the unceded and traditional lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation. 

Our team goal is to raise $2365 total ($215 each) by each traveling 215 kms this summer through various activities (running, biking, swimming, scooting, skating, paddling, etc.) for 2356 kms in total! We know there are still more children yet to be recovered and brought home, but we are choosing 215 as a symbolic number because of the recent discovery of  the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Residential School.

Kids in these schools were forcibly taken from their families, not allowed to acknowledge their heritage or to speak their own languages, made to do manual labour, and did not receive proper medial care or nutrition. Abuse and punishments were severe and frequent. The schools were funded by the Canadian government and administered by Christian churches. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown, but estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000. There were around 130 government funded schools and they closed just 25 years ago in 1996!

If you are a kid who wants to join our cause please reach out and we can add you to our campaign! 

Please take time to learn more about Residential Schools as well as your local First Nation Bands and the Traditional Territories that you are on! Here are some resources we referenced that I suggest you read:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-residential-schools-kamloops-faq-1.6051632 
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/ 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57592243 
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/world/canada/indigenous-children-graves-saskatchewan-canada.html 
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/Pages/truth-reconciliation-commission-web-archive.aspx 
https://www.fnha.ca/what-we-do/mental-wellness-and-substance-use/residential-schools 
https://reconciliationcanada.ca/need-help/