Capsule opening stirs memories for Hay River families

As Hay River’s Harry Camsell School unearthed a 25-year-old time capsule, it reconnected some parents with their late children.

Yvette Schreder’s son, Christopher Mailloux, was nine years old when he filled out a questionnaire on October 1, 2000, as part of a school activity that asked students to imagine their future.

What do you like to do most? Playing hockey, responded a fifth grade Mailloux. The people most important to him? His parents. The thing he was worried about back then? His dog Riley running away.

“He said in 10 years from now, he hoped to have a kid,” Schreder told Cabin Radio.

“He also said at the time that he was good at math. So I thought, it’s kind-of funny because he wasn’t really doing the math as he would’ve only been 19 if he were to have a kid in 10 years.”

Mailloux, like other children his age, also dreamed of becoming a movie star and he included a drawing of himself playing Nintendo 64 to show his love for the video game.

Mailloux’s letter was one of many placed in the time capsule, which was buried more than 20 years ago.

The capsule was originally intended to be opened in 2020, however the unveiling was delayed until earlier this month.

When Mailloux’s name was read out at the opening, Schreder was not present.

In fact, she said she had not thought about the time capsule in years, until a friend called to tell her that her son’s letter had been uncovered.

Mailloux passed away in 2021 at the age of 30 from a fentanyl overdose, making the discovery of his letter all the more meaningful.

“Very special to be able to have it. I wish all parents that have lost a child had an opportunity to have something like this because you don’t often get to go back and see a little glimpse of them,” Schreder said of the letter, noting June is National Bereaved Parents Awareness Month.

“I miss him tremendously but I am really happy to have it. It made me go back in time a little bit – back to those days he was here.”

Schreder remembers her nine-year-old son as a fearless boy who “loved to do all kinds of things.” She said he used to regularly swim with his dog at the beach, enjoyed playing with his friends and “had a great big heart.”

She said she was told that 15 of the students whose letters were buried in the time capsule had since passed away. How many of those deaths were related to drugs is unclear.

‘A wake-up call’

Shari Raven said the number of drug-related deaths in Hay River should be “a wake-up call” for the NWT government.

She lost her son, James Caudron, to a drug overdose five years ago.

“We don’t want any other parent to feel what we have gone through. That time capsule just opened up – a lot.”

Caudron said she expected her son’s name to be called during the capsule opening but was not ready to attend.

“Bless those kids who are still alive and bless their families. But good golly, that was like ripping up my soul when I saw my son’s name on there,” she said.

“He’s at peace and I take comfort in that, but no parent should have to go through that. No child should go through that … I love him and miss him everyday.”

Raven said Caudron had no fear and was immensely passionate about his work as a commercial fisher, which he began at 17 years old.

Raven, who was born and raised in Hay River and has worked with youth throughout her career, said she has witnessed the drug crisis worsen in the town.

Over the years, she said she has proposed multiple programs aimed at supporting at-risk youth in the community that have been rejected by the NWT government.

Raven said that included a transitional housing program called Storm, standing for strength, tenacity, olive, respect, and movement. She said the name symbolizes how a storm clears the air and holds power and was also her son’s middle name.

Raven said she is currently rewriting her proposal for the program and urged the territorial government to take concrete action.

“To have some place safe for them when they come out from either incarceration or treatment. We really, really need this. It’s so necessary,” she said.

“When does it stop? When is the government going to make some sort of a decision to provide the help that’s needed?”

The territory launched a transitional housing project in Yellowknife earlier this year for people returning to the NWT from addiction treatment down south and plans to open another in Inuvik. Raven said Hay River in particular, as the gateway to the territory, needs additional support.

Newspapers, Pokémon cards and a VHS tape

Shayla O’Connor, who grew up in Hay River and now lives in Edmonton, was one of the students who contributed to the time capsule and helped to organize its opening.

She said students from Grades 4-6 placed items in the capsule in 2000. While some students added photos or hand-written notes, others contributed Pokémon cards. One VHS tape that was recovered will now be digitized.

“We found some old newspapers, which was cool to look at. There was an old copy of the Hay River Hub, the Edmonton Journal. There were different staff calendars from the teachers in there, as well as a front cover copy of the Guinness World Records book from the year 2000,” O’Connor said, adding she believes roughly 250 items were in the capsule.

O’Connor said the capsule’s extraction on June 30 was performed by Eagle 88 – the same family-owned company that had buried it. Arcan Construction supplied a truck and trailer to give the capsule a tour through Hay River during the town’s Canada Day parade. 

Following the parade, the capsule was opened at Bob McMeekin Park, and the recovered items were returned to the original owners that were present.

“Just to see a lot of familiar faces and seeing the community come together … There were lots of people gathered around, collecting things for themselves, their kids, siblings,” O’Connor said.

For those who contributed items to the capsule but were unable to attend the opening, O’Connor said they can still pick them up at the Hay River Youth Centre.

O’Connor’s Grade 4 teacher Liz Buckley was also present at the event.

Buckley began working as a special needs assistant at Harry Camsell School in 1977. At the age of 40, she went to college to earn her degree and returned to the school as a full-time teacher in 1990. She retired in 2005.

Buckley recalled students writing about flying cars, people with purple hair, and dreams of becoming pilots, nurses, artists or musicians in letters about the future in 2000.

“I went the day before when they dug out the capsule there in front of the school. I went there for a few minutes to watch them lift it out of the ground there. I was wishing there were more people to see it,” she said.

“It was quite cool. I wish I could have read all the children’s papers from my class but I just didn’t have the time.”

During the opening of the time capsule, Buckley said she found items from two of her granddaughters, who were in Grade 1 and Grade 6 in 2000.