Bloodvein First Nation celebrates life of 2-year-old who died from injuries in January
Members of Bloodvein First Nation gathered on Easter Sunday to celebrate the life of Jessiah Prestige Young by bringing out cake, singing and releasing balloons on the day that should have been her third birthday celebration.
The two-year-old's life was cut tragically short on Jan. 24, when she was taken to a nursing station in the eastern Manitoba community with serious injuries and pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Her grandmother and primary caregiver, 56-year-old Burma Skye, was charged with second-degree murder on Jan. 29.
Skye has not entered a plea. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May.
The girl's death left the community devastated and searching for answers, said Jessiah's aunt, Roberta Goosehead.
Roberta Goosehead planned the celebration of life for Jessiah, her niece. April 20 would have been Jessiah's third birthday, so they released hundreds of balloons in her memory. (Caroline Barghout/CBC)
Goosehead, whose brother is Jessiah's father, said she wanted to celebrate Jessiah's April 20 birthday so the community could remember the joy she brought to their lives, and to remember a little girl who was just learning her ABCs, who loved dancing and singing, and hugged everyone she met.
"I don't only want them to remember the bad stuff. I want them to remember the good stuff too," Goosehead said.
WATCH | Community sings to celebrate toddler's life:
She cared for the two-year-old for about nine months after Jessiah's mom was arrested.
In October, Jessiah moved in with her grandmother after Goosehead had difficulties finding child care during the day while she was at work.
While Jessiah was living with her, Goosehead had been scheduling visits with Skye, who is Jessiah's maternal grandmother. Skye had regained custody of another little girl related to Jessiah, so Goosehead thought the two-year-old would be safe in her care.
But soon, Skye cut off visitations and stopped returning Goosehead's messages. Goosehead thought it was because Skye didn't get along with some members of her family.
Skye previously struggled with addiction, but Goosehead said she didn't see any signs she was using again.
"If she was struggling to keep her, she should have contacted me and I would have picked her up," she said.
"We loved Jessiah. I would have jumped right away and would have gotten her."
'We wanted to give her a celebration'
Then, while in Winnipeg for a medical treatment, Goosehead got a call from Bloodvein Chief Lisa Young on Jan. 24 to tell her that Jessiah had died.
"It was very, very hard for all of us," said Young, whose community is on the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg, about 215 kilometres northeast of the city of Winnipeg.
"Losing a child like that is hard to even comprehend."
Bloodvein First Nation Chief Lisa Young says she wanted to honour Jessiah's life and help the community heal after the toddler's death. (Caroline Barghout/CBC)
When Young found out Jessiah's birthday was coming up, she felt it was important to mark the date to help the community heal.
"We knew that she wasn't going to be here to celebrate it. We wanted to celebrate for her," Young said.
Pink T-shirts were made with a picture of Jessiah in the centre and handed out to everyone in the community on Sunday afternoon. More than 200 balloons, with candy tied to the bottom, were blown up for the kids at the celebration.
That was important to Goosehead, who said she knew the candy would make the kids happy.
WATCH | 200 balloons released at celebration of Jessiah Prestige Young's life:
Before they released the balloons, the community members smudged the gymnasium and offered songs, including one that came to a community member that day as she thought of Jessiah and another about a polar bear. Then they sang Happy Birthday to Jessiah.
"Jessiah's loss was a great one in the community, it not only affected us as the family, but the whole community.… Across this nation, her name is being heard," Goosehead said at the beginning of the ceremony.
"So today, we wanted to give her a celebration."
They went outside, clad in their pink T-shirts, counted to three and released the balloons into the sky, celebrating Jessiah's life.
Goosehead said she wants people to celebrate the toddler, to remember the light she brought to everyone's life and to remember her name.
"We're just going to take it day by day and just keep her memory alive."
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Los Angeles Times
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