Bells ring out in Sudbury for residential school victims

Pictured is the LeGrand family, Tracey (right) Benjamin (middle) and Sophia. Friday at 2:15 p.m., church bells rang 215 times in downtown Sudbury. The ringing was a special acknowledgement for the children whose remains were discovered a week ago at a B.C residential school. (Alana Everson/CTV News)

News -

Friday at 2:15 p.m., church bells rang 215 times in downtown Sudbury. The ringing was a special acknowledgement for the children whose remains were discovered a week ago at a B.C residential school.

Many gathered outside the church of the Epiphany to honour the children. People in attendance chanted "never again" before and after the bells.

We talked to a family who came out to hear the bells.

"I am a parent and an educator and I have a Grade 2/3 class," said Tracey LeGrand.

"And in my class I have a number of First Nations children and as I look at those kids, I think about those kids that died and knowing they would be about the same age and just how wrong it is to take kids from their homes, take them from their families."

The family also had the opportunity to ring the bells wearing shirts saying 'Every Child Matters.'

'They were about the same age as me'

"They were about the same age as me and my brother and that's not OK," said 12-year-old Sophia LeGrand.

"Like I cannot believe, I wouldn't want to be taken away from my family and to die at that age. That is not fair."

Her brother echoed those sentiments.

"They should have had a life and they shouldn't have died at their age," said 10-year-old Benjamin LeGrand.

Bells also rang at the Christ the King, a Catholic church in downtown Sudbury.