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In what may have been unique among Canadian First Nations, they decided to build their own school. And now, as Canadians grapple with the legacy of residential schools, Jean Marie River is trying to commemorate the fact it doesn’t have to.

“Our community saw that it needed to do something different,” said Chief Gladys Norwegian. “It was democracy at its finest.”

Jean Marie River, a hamlet in the Northwest Territories along the Mackenzie River, had about 70 people in 1950. That’s about the same as now, but there were many more children back then.

That’s what brought the government to town. Officials explained to parents that their kids would have to attend a residential school at Fort Simpson — a small distance on the map but a long journey by boat or dog team in those days.

Norwegian’s father Louis, who was chief at the time, was torn.

“Dad really stressed on the importance of our beliefs and values,” she recalled. “At the same time, (he) realized there’s a dominant society out there, so he really believed we needed to know the ways of the white people for us to survive.”

It was the mothers that made up his mind.

“When he heard the mothers crying, echoing through the community — especially in September when it’s very dark and quiet — he himself cried,” said Norwegian.

“He didn’t like the sound of the mothers crying over their children. To me, that was the driving force.”

He didn’t like the sound of the mothers crying over their children. To me, that was the driving force

The chief began talking to federal officials about Jean Marie River getting its own school.