Indigenous community marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

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“As more and more children are being found, and more and more stories are being heard of the atrocious acts of violence committed during the era of Indian Residential schools … the fact still remains that First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are still reeling with the intergenerational and present day trauma,” organizers of Thursday’s walk said in an event invitation.

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“We asked, ‘Where do we go from here’ … the answer is, and always had been, to focus on our children.”

The day to honour First Nations residential school victims and survivors was declared by the federal government in June, and is one of the 94 calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report released in 2015.

It means many people will have the day off work — but everyone should consider it an opportunity to learn about Canada’s residential school system, not just a stat holiday.

“It’s a difficult time because now all of Canada is talking about this and people are eager and interested to know, but we have to be mindful that a  lot of our elders are still hurt, some are still traumatized or now re-traumatized.”

First Nations people today are reclaiming cultures, languages and ceremonies pushed underground by the residential school system, Isaacs said. That’s why her services as a cultural resource officer are important: she helps connect the urban Indigenous community in Windsor and Essex County with what they need to heal, whether that’s their language or getting to a sweat lodge.

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More funding, especially money like the $30 million the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has pledged to residential school survivors, is needed.

“We need more resources and more funding to add and be shared with local Indigenous agencies such as the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre to support these highly needed programs and access to culture, language and ceremony,” Isaacs said.

“To me, healing happens when we reclaim who we are, pick up ancestral knowledge and have that choice to share. Healing happens when Canada recognizes and honours the true story of how we came to be.”

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation also coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a reconciliation project that recognizes the experience of Phyllis Webstad, a survivor who had her brand-new orange shirt stolen from her on her first day at residential school. Today, Orange Shirt Day is marked to create discussion, education and remembrance of Canada’s residential school system.

Isaacs also called on Canadians to reflect on the words of the Honourable Murray Sinclair,  former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and learn about the 94 calls to action issues by the Commission, on Thursday.

“What the Canadian government tried to do was truly genocide. People don’t want to admit that and to this day we’re dealing with that,” Isaacs said.

“Healing and reconciliation takes the commitment of both Canadians and the First Nations of Turtle Island. It’s a responsibility not just for Indigenous people but our non-Indigenous brothers and sisters of Turtle Island to work together in a positive way, to shift towards healing and reconciliation.”

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Thursday’s Every Child Matters healing walk starts with an opening ceremony for the Native community at 11 a.m. near the Bert Weeks Memorial Fountain, speakers starting at noon, and a closing prayer at 6 p.m. The walk begins at 1 p.m. from Bert Weeks Memorial Fountain, moving east towards Assumption Park, with another speaker on the importance of truth and reconciliation at 3 p.m. From 4 to 6 p.m. there will be children’s activities, a film screening and a panel discussion, all at Assumption Park.

People are asked to complete the Ontario COVID-19 self-assessment before attending and to stay home if they are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.

ksaylors@postmedia.com