Joey Commanda’s family ‘brings him home,’ 53 years after death while fleeing residential school

“Today our community have brought Joey Commanda home and although it was a long journey, it was a journey filled with tears, laughter and it brought peace to Joey’s soul and it has brought peace and a sense of closure all of our family.”

These were some of the comments made this past Sunday afternoon by Loretta “Budgie” Nadeau, sister of the deceased and the driving force behind a walk from the former Mohawk Institute in Brantford to the bridge connecting Pikwakanagan in Golden Lake.

She addressed a crowd of more than 250 family members, friends, and supporters who gathered in the former Algonquins of Pikwakanagan cemetery to send spirit of their brother on to his next journey.

Nadeau, an Algonquin originally from the Pikwakanagan First Nation who now resides Orangeville, said she organized the walk to raise awareness and bring a measure of healing to families.

Her brothers Joe and Rocky Commanda were removed from their home in Golden Lake in the mid-1960s and placed at the Mohawk Institute, which first opened in 1828 and was the longest-operating residential school in the country when it closed in 1970. More than 15,000 children, most of them from Six Nations of the Grand River, were forced to attend.

She said her brothers ran away twice from 'the Mush Hole' – the name given to the residential school by its students in reference to the food they were served – in an effort to return home.

The boys split up on their second attempt. On September 13, 1968, Joe, 13, was struck and killed by a train in Oakville, while Rocky, a year older, was apprehended by police and put in a Toronto jail.

“For our family, and the community of Pikwakanagan, Joey never really came back home,” she said. “But today, our brother is finally home.”

A morning ceremonial prayer was held in front of the school that has since been transformed into a museum, and a reminder of the flawed residential school system that forcibly removed children from their families and placed them in religious run and government supported network of schools that operated for more than 100 years.

When Joey’s body was discovered and declared “deceased,” the police force investigating the incident listed him as trespassing. It was a far different reception by local police forces over the weekend who provided escort for the Commanda family and some officers went to great efforts to assist in the safe passage of the convoy.

The first leg of the walk ended last Friday in Oakville, at the spot for where Commanda died. The trek continued to Toronto on Saturday, followed by a five-hour vehicle convoy on Sunday to the Golden Lake Post Office.

With the assistance of members of the Killaloe Detachment of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the walkers, in a sea of orange shirts, crossed Highway 60 down to the bridge linking Golden Lake and Pikwakanagan.

Hundreds of walkers crossed over the bridge to the cheers of many supporters who also wanted to honour the 13-year-old Indigenous boy. The group, many of them aged 60 years or older and showing signs of exhaustion, made their way up the steep incline. It had been raining for most of their journey but dark clouds suddenly gave way to sunny blue skies as they entered the now-closed cemetery.

Despite these obstacles, the group made their way to the cemetery to the sounds of Brian Sarazin playing a lone drum at the entrance welcoming all those who helped bring Commanda home.

Greg Sarazin, resident of Pikwakanagan and nephew of Joe Commanda, carried the sacred staff with an eagle on top and led the crowd to Commanda’s tombstone. The front of the tombstone bore his full  name, a photo, his dates of birth and death, and the inscription Every Child Matters. The back of the tombstone had a dedication written by family member Christine Commanda entitled In Remembrance of Joe and her moving note written to the young boy ends:

They say you have died, Joe.

That you are gone from us,

We will always pray though.

And Hope they are wrong.

According to other Pikwakanagan members who were also forcibly removed from their homes in order to attend a residential school, it appears that Commanda was the only residential student they knew of who did not return home.

One surprising revelation made on Sunday was the introduction of four Mohawk members who not only took part in the walk, but they were also school mates of the Commanda boys. Saul, Doug, Thomas and Dean who were only boys in 1968, returned to take part in this historic walk.

“I remember it was September 1967 and out of the blue Joey and Rocky came up to us and greeted us and that started a lifelong relationship with the Commanda boys,” Mohawk Nation representative Doug George said he said. “We became friends and all of us Mohawks offered the boys our protection and if anyone had an issue or wanted to ‘talk’ to the Commanda boys, they had to come through us.”

He told the crowd that he and some other Mohawk boys were expelled in September 1968 and they encouraged the Commanda brothers to do something they had done repeatedly, and that was to run. He realized when he and fellow walkers made the 100-km trek from Brantford to the site of Joey’s death in Oakville, he finally appreciated just how far the 13 and 14-year old boys had gone with no knowledge of the area.

“We had one of our seniors contact Joey in the spirit world and they said Joey was in good hands and he would lead all those children yet to be found at the Mohawk Institute,” he said. “Their spirits will be protected and guided by Joey and he said it is ok and that just as we had done, Joey has grown into a fine young man and he will bring them back to their homes.”

The ceremony ended with George presenting Nadeau with the official flag of the Mohawk Nation as a symbol of cooperation between the two federations and everyone was invited to say a traditional blessing at the base of Joey’s headstone.

As hundreds of visitors left the cemetery for a traditional feast held at the Pow Wow grounds, the last words of Nadeau still rang in their ears.

“We did it… and we made it and we did it for Joey,” she said to the crowd with many of them cheering and chanting, while along the front of Commanda’s headstone, the flag and staff bearers raised their arms and pointed up to the sky to send a welcome home message to the young boy who was remembered on this day.