Group hopes quilts will help residential school survivors to heal

When lifelong quilter Pamela Simons learned about the long-term care centre to be opened down the street from her former home in Rankin Inlet, she thought of crafting blankets for the elders there.

Pamela Simons, left, presents her quilt top to Vanessa Génier. The quilt top took her four days to make and will be turned into a finished quilt by the team at the Timmins Quilts for Survivors studio. (Photo courtesy of Pamela Simons)

She hopes to provide single-bed quilts for all 24 beds in the new facility, and wheelchair-specific quilts for future residents.

“I’m going to wait until there’s an administrator and they’re up and running to organize getting the quilts,” said Simons.

“I’m sure there are quilters all over Canada that would be willing to jump in and help out with this.”

Simons moved to Elliot Lake, Ont., a year and half ago, but still hopes to make her quilting project in Rankin Inlet a reality with the help of the non-profit group Quilts for Survivors.

The organization co-ordinates making and gifting full-sized quilts to survivors of the residential school system.

Founded in June 2021 and based in Timmins, Ont., Quilts for Survivors was a personal project for Vanessa Génier, who started it a month after the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation announced its discovery of 215 unmarked gravesites at Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia.

“That stirred something in myself to do something to help,” said Génier, who is from Missanabie Cree First Nation in Ontario.

She did a social media call-out in 2021 asking for help to create 18 block quilts.

“I wanted to make 215 quilts, plus one block to honour those first children,” said Génier. Since then, the organization has shipped more than 6,000 quilts.

Simons was one of 70 quilters from across Canada and the U.S. who attended Quilts for Survivors’ four-day sewing retreat at Northern College’s Timmins, Ont., campus that started Sept. 27.

All the blocks and tops made there will be sewn into quilts and sent to residential school, day school and Sixties Scoop survivors.

This year’s sewing retreat was scheduled to end Monday with a feast and traditional drumming.

Two attendees of the second annual Quilts for Survivors sewing retreat in Timmins, Ont., work on a quilt. (Photo courtesy of Katherine Jeremiah)

Using quilts as a medium to honour Inuit, First Nations and Métis survivors is rooted in tradition, said Génier.

“The act of giving a blanket symbolizes respect and honour to the people who receive it, while wrapping them in it acknowledges the journey they walked that they may have not chosen for themselves,” she said.

“In the words of an elder, every time we wrap a survivor in a quilt we’re giving them permission to heal.”

Survivors of the residential school system, or their friends and family, can request a quilt for a survivor by filling out a form on the Quilts for Survivors website. It could take up to a year to receive a quilt once requested.

Simons is involved in a local guild for Quilts for Survivors based in Elliot Lake and plans to work with Génier and the group once the long-term care centre opens in Rankin Inlet.

“I feel lucky to have found people who share my passion,” Simons said.

“To me, a quilt is made with love and is meant to provide a hug to the recipient whenever needed, so they will know that there are many people who care for them.”

The third annual Quilts for Survivors retreat will be hosted next September with the confirmed attendance of Phyllis Webstad, the creator of Orange Shirt Day.