Memorial honours 8 Bunibonibee Cree Nation students, pilot killed in 1972 Winnipeg plane crash

Posted on September 25, 2024 by Peggy

Family members and community leaders unveiled a monument Wednesday to commemorate eight residential school students, and the pilot of their plane, who were killed in a crash in Winnipeg 52 years ago.

On June 24, 1972, eight students from residential schools in Stonewall and Portage la Prairie were heading back home to their families in Bunibonibee Cree Nation, formerly known as Oxford House — almost 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg — for summer break.

The small plane they were on experienced engine failure and crashed into a vacant lot between two houses on Linwood Street shortly after it took off from the Winnipeg airport. The students, and the plane’s pilot, all died in the crash.

“I’ve come to honour the memories of the eight precious young people,” said Stacey Robinson, who spoke on behalf of her 98-year-old grandmother, Rosie Weenusk, at the Wednesday unveiling of the monument, held at the crash site in the Deer Lodge neighbourhood.

Weenusk’s daughter, Iona Weenusk, was one of the people killed in the crash. Rosie Weenusk, who is the only surviving parent of a crash victim, had planned to attend the memorial service herself but was too ill, said Robinson.

“[The crash] took our children, our sisters, our brothers, along with their dreams, their plans and their passion for their future,” she said.

A woman wearing blue sunglasses and an orange hoodie stands at a podium outside. — Stacey Robinson spoke on behalf of her 98-year-old grandmother, Rosie Weenusk, who is the last living parent of one of the people killed in the crash. Iona Weenusk, Rosie’s daughter, was 21 years old. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)

Iona Weenusk, 21, was an aspiring writer and won an award for a poem she wrote about her experience attending a residential school in Portage la Prairie.

The families of the students are “not able to have the privilege to see their futures and their dreams come true,” said Robinson. “Instead it’s heartbreak and devastation that took place.”

The families “haven’t forgotten the pilot, and I thank the family for being here today,” Robinson said.

Bunibonibee Cree Nation Chief Richard Hart, who also attended the ceremony, read another poem written by Iona, titled Home, which describes the love she had for her community.

“My home, where the aurora borealis pulses with vitality, where the bright stars shine against the midnight blue sky, where the full moon illuminates the broad expanse of pine trees on which shrouds of sparkly snow hang,” Hart read.

He said to make sure they are not forgotten, every year, people in the community commemorate those killed in the crash — Iona Weenusk, Ethel Grieves, 17, Mary Rita Canada, 18, Wilkie Muskego, 16, Rosalie Belfour, 16, Margaret Robinson, 16, siblings Roy and Deborah Sinclair, 18 and 14, and the pilot, Wilbur S. Coughlin, 47.

Plane crash memorial honours 9 people who died in 1972

1 hour ago

Duration 2:04

It’s been 54 years since Winnipeg experienced the worst plane crash in its history. In 1972, nine people died when a small plane crashed in the Deer Lodge neighbourhood. Now that crash has been memorialized forever as a dark chapter in both aviation history and the tragedy of residential schools.

“It truly was the most devastating day in our community to lose eight students, especially when our community was still quite small at the time and very isolated,” Hart said.

The families were eager to reunite with their children after they were taken away from their community, culture and traditions by attending residential schools, he said.

Many children who attended residential schools came home with a broken spirit, said Hart. Other students, like the eight from Bunibonibee, died trying to get home, he said.

The placement of the monument near the crash site will bring people together, and help them learn about the history and impact of residential schools and to honour the victims, said Hart.

“I wish the Indian residential school system, and taking children away from their homes, had never taken place,” he said during Wednesday’s ceremony. “Then maybe the tragedy of June 24 would never have taken place.”

A man wearing a traditional headdress and a ribbon shirt stands at a podium. — Bunibonibee Cree Nation Chief Richard Hart said people honour the victims every year in the community so they are not forgotten. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)

The monument was created in collaboration between the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, the City of Winnipeg and Bunibonibee Cree Nation.

“We want to make sure those lives will never, ever, ever be forgotten, so what that led to was the memorial,” Royal Aviation Museum CEO and president Terry Slobodian said.

“People will come by, hear the story and reflect on it.”