Students taking part in reconciliation walk today
On the heels of Orange Shirt Day, a new event will step forward for Prince George’s restoration of Aboriginal relationships.
The Central Interior Native Health Society will welcome about 240 students from School District 57 and neighbouring School District 91 to take part in the Walk To Truth And Reconciliation. It happens today with an opening ceremony at 10 a.m. at the newly opened downtown gathering centre Uda Dune Baiyoh / House of Ancestors (355 Vancouver St.) operated by the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.
The students will be in Grades 6 and 7.
CINHS executive director Shobha Sharma, said “It is important Grade 6 and 7 students are educated about the history of Canada’s Indigenous people and the role truth and reconciliation plays in our community. By participating in this walk, young people from Nechako Lakes and Prince George will be active participants in our communities’ ongoing journey of truth and reconciliation.”
The Walk To Truth And Reconciliation is a figurative one as much as physical. Sharma explained that in addition to activities at the House of Ancestors, there would be further activities at the CINHS facility, provincial courthouse, and at the Prince George Native Friendship Centre all located with a short walk of each other.
“Students and teachers will be greeted by a Lheidli T’enneh elder and take part in a traditional welcoming ceremony to instill a positive and respectful start to the day,” Sharma said.
Students will learn phrases in the Dakelh language (also called Carrier by those who came later in history) and those phrases will be used throughout the event, Sharma said, “to understand the need for a revival of language and highlight how the revitalization of language is central to colonization and the revitalization of Indigenous identity.”
At the CINHS clinic, members of the CINHS team will facilitate guiding students through a conversation about what a so-called “Indian Hospital” was, and explore traditional Indigenous approaches to healthcare.
“At the Prince George courthouse, students will learn about how the justice system treated Indigenous people in the past, and about Indigenous Court and how it differs from a traditional European-style justice system,” said Sharma.
At the Prince George Native Friendship Society, students will hear about the experience of residential school from those who survived this now outlawed practice.
“In addition, at the House of Ancestors, students will participate in a discussion about the concept of traditional lands, the significance of the Canadian reserve system and the idea of landlessness, to understand the difference between owning land and belonging to the land and how that difference impacts how and where we live,” said Sharma. “At the end of the walk the students will be invited to share their ideas about colonization, truth and reconciliation, and how to be allies with their neighbours and classmates.”
Following the event, students will be asked to create a collage or poster representing their experience during the Walk To Truth And Reconciliation.
Art pieces will be displayed in the CINHS integrated health care centre and potentially other public art spaces, “to generate discussion and show the path that is being forged by the youngest generation, toward a future of reconciliation and unity,” Sharma said.
It is hoped, according to the organizers, that the deeply impactful colonization practices of the past can be understood by modern youth, especially so as to recognize how they are still having meaningful effects in today’s ongoing Canadian society.