The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and the Star Blanket Cree Nation are calling on Regina’s Archbishop Donald Bolen to remove the statue of Father Joseph Hugonard, a Roman Catholic priest who founded the Lebret Indian Industrial Residential School.

“The statue must go. It is not appealing. It brings out emotions of pain, suffering, and angers our relatives that went through the residential school era,” says Star Blanket Cree Nation Chief Michael Starr in a release from the FSIN. “The removal of the statue will help heal our First Nations people and bring forward truth and reconciliation.”

Hugonard was the first principal at the school that closed its doors in June of 1998 after operating for 114 years.

Lebret is about 45 minutes northeast of Regina near the town of Fort Qu’Appelle