EditorB次元官网网址檚 note: The story below may trigger difficult or traumatic thoughts and memories. The Indian Residential School Survivors SocietyB次元官网网址檚 24-hour crisis line is available at 1-866-925-4419.
B次元官网网址淗ollow words are not enough.B次元官网网址�
Those were the words from the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations RoseAnne Archibald at a TkB次元官网网址檈ml煤ps te Secwe虛pemc event marking the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day is a direct response to a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The TkB次元官网网址檈ml煤ps te Secwe虛pemc sparked a movement across Canada when they revealed that they had found the unmarked graves of 215 children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential school in May. At the start of August, Ottawa moved to make Sept. 30 B次元官网网址� previously marked as Orange Shirt Day in B.C. B次元官网网址� the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Although the day is a statutory holiday for federally regulated employees, the emphasis from many First Nations people has been for nonB次元官网网址揑ndigenous Canadians to make the day by listening and learning about the impact of the residential school system.
In Kamloops, Archibald continued, calling residential schools B次元官网网址渋nstitutions of assimilation and genocide.
B次元官网网址淚 attended many schools across Ontario and none of them had graveyards,B次元官网网址� she added.
The facilities operated from the 1800s until 1996. There were more than 140 of them, including 18 in B.C. More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, where they died from a variety of causes including both physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition, diseases and neglect.
TkB次元官网网址檈ml煤ps K煤kpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir addressed a recent apology from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Casimir said that their apology, issued last week, was too similar to that given during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which issued its report six years ago.
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Of the 94 calls to action from the commission, No. 56B次元官网网址�61 call on the Pope to apologize for the Catholic churchB次元官网网址檚 role in running residential schools, as well as to make funding and records available. The commissionB次元官网网址檚 calls to action No. 71B次元官网网址�76 call for the federal government to work with Indigenous Peoples to release records and assist in finding and commemorating missing children.
The commission said in 2015 that least 3,200 children died at residential schools, although recent discoveries show that the number of deaths is likely to be much higher. Families were not typically informed of what happened to their children.
TkB次元官网网址檈ml煤ps legal counsel Don Worme said that the First Nation is willing to work with the government and the church, those organizations must fully cooperate.
B次元官网网址淲e need disclosure of all relevant recordsB次元官网网址� (but) we donB次元官网网址檛 need a document dump. We need them in a fashion that is useful to the survivors,B次元官网网址� Worme said.
But for today, and all days going forward, Archibald said, Indigenous Peoples must be the focus.
B次元官网网址淥ne hundred per cent of First Nations people suffer from intergeneration trauma,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭his is a day to honour the survivors, the intergenerational survivors, of the institutions.B次元官网网址�
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Elsewhere across the country communities and cities recognized the day with events and ceremonies. On the Cowessess First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, where children attended the Marieval Indian Residential School up until the mid-90s, Chief Cadmus Delorme told a crowd that the day is about healing.
Cowessess is another First Nation that reported the discovery of unmarked graves or burial sites at a former school using ground-penetrating radar. In June, it said 751 graves were believed to have been found.
B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 want people to feel sorry for us. We want to heal. We want to get stronger,B次元官网网址� Delorme said.
B次元官网网址淭he truth is going to be really tough. Even for Indigenous people, the truth is hard to acknowledge because of the pain. But we canB次元官网网址檛 have reconciliation without truth. Today is a day for people to come together.B次元官网网址�
On Parliament Hill, there was a sea of orange, as several thousand people gathered on the lawn in front of the Peace Tower for a morning ceremony under a bright blue sky.
Event organizer Jenny Sutherland said the day was to be about peace, not a day for protest.
B次元官网网址淭he nation is finally awakening to our story,B次元官网网址� Sutherland told the crowd, which continued to grow over two hours of speeches, songs and prayers.
Algonquin Anishinabe Elder Claudette Commanda said it was a day to reflect and honour those who never came home.
B次元官网网址淭wo-hundred and fifteen little voices woke the country,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淔rom the moment those little ones went into the ground, they were speaking in spirit. They knew there would come a day that we would all hear their voices. And let us hold those children in our heart forevermore.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� With files from Mickey Djuric at Cowessess First Nation and Mia Rabson in Ottawa, The Canadian Press
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