A visit from a guest elder who is a residential school survivor and a pipe ceremony are part of the plans for today’s event in New West in commemoration of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The New West-based Spirit of the Children Society is hosting an event to honour residential school survivors and those who didn’t come home. It’s taking place on Thursday, Sept. 30 (today) from 4 to 6 p.m. at Westminster Pier Park.
The event includes a welcome and guest speakers, a special guest elder who is a residential school survivor and a pipe ceremony. Folks of all ages are welcome to attend this free, family-friendly event.
“I really hope to see the community out. This will be the first time for our city acknowledging this day on Sept. 30,” Coun. Mary Trentadue said at Monday’s council meeting. “I am really looking forward to participating with our community. Thank you to staff and thank you to Spirit of the Children Society for putting this event on.”
In June, the federal government adopted Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour Indigenous children, residential school survivors and all the lives and communities affected by the Indian residential school system in Canada. In past years, communities have celebrated Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30.
In August, the B.C. government announced it would mark Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for this year only, and would consult about when to recognize the day in the future.
New Westminster city council followed suit, approving a one-time declaration of Sept. 30, 2021 as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in New Westminster and directing staff to report back with a recommendation about when the city would recognize the day in subsequent years to ensure it aligns with the provincial government’s plans.
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is not only a day of remembering the truth and honouring the experiences of survivors, but a time to be steadfast in the values that every child matters.
It’s encouraging British Columbians and Canadians to reflect on the truth of the survivors’ experiences, and to acknowledge that this was a genocide, involving the forced removal of children from their families and nations, placing more than 150,000 children in those institutions to try to “take the Indian out of the child.”
“In what has been an eye-opening, harrowing, and empowering year of reckoning and challenge, the discovery of the unmarked graves and burial sites of children places a sombre pallor over this first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and nothing short of truth and justice will rectify the harmful, intergenerational and continuing impacts of residential schools,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC president, in a press release.
Chief Don Tom, UBCIC vice-president, said the necessary work of decolonization isn’t going to be advanced by symbolic action and talk; Canada and BC must take action to hold themselves accountable and make good on their many, critical commitments to Indigenous Peoples.
Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, secretary-treasurer, said the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs wishes all those impacted by centuries of intergenerational trauma and colonial violence the safety of a moment of quiet reflection, time, and space they need to heal and process the events of the past year.
“Despite centuries of colonialization and efforts to stamp out our culture and voices, today are strong and united in our resolve to ensure the truth of the residential school policy is understood as the genocide it was,” she said. “We will press for real justice, and remedies for these harms at the individual and Nation level. We honour those who are educating Canadians, and ensuring the truth is heard, like the founder of Orange Shirt Day, Phyllis Webstad, and all other victims, survivors, or thrivers as we prefer to call them. We remember the children who were lost to the residential school system and those who left the schools but never found their way home due to the damage the system did to their hearts and minds. We will never forget this, and today we ensure that Canadians learn the truth and we hope they stand with us for justice, peace and human rights.”
