Tens of thousands attend city’s Walk for Reconciliation
‘They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were the seeds,’ says residential school survivor
Near the head of a crowd that stretched almost one kilometre walked Sam George, a survivor.
George, one of the last living members of his cohort in St. Paul’s Residential School in North Vancouver, walked through downtown Vancouver Sunday with help from a cane and the support of tens of thousands of people.
It was the city’s second Walk for Reconciliation, a march intended to foster better relationships between Indigenous peoples and other Canadians. George wore a T-shirt that read “They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were the seeds.” He explained its meaning. “They tried to change us, get rid of our customs and languages and change us into the non-natives — the white people. It was beaten into us in whatever way they could. But we all (still) had it deep down,” he said.
“We had to reawaken it. Some of us, like myself, were ashamed of who we were. But then we brought it out and held it up.”
When asked what it meant to see so many people come out to the march, George turned his face and went silent. Asked after a long pause if he felt touched, he nodded, unable to speak. Among the marchers were members of several faith groups — some of which had played roles in Canada’s assimilative system of residential schools.
Elizabeth Mathers, a deacon from St. Clement’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver, came to the walk wearing her clerical collar.
“I’m here because this is a huge social justice issue,” Mathers said.
“As a member of a church that was an instrument in the residential schools, it means moving out of that mindset of we know best, and listening to survivors, First Nations people, and walking together with them.”
Her church had cancelled its Sunday service to give its congregants time to attend the walk if they wished. It was one of two times in the church’s more-than one hundred years that service was cancelled, Mathers believed. The other time was for the last reconciliation walk, she said.
When asked if she had given thought to how some people might feel to see someone dressed as she was, Mathers said she understood it could be a trigger, but that she had a responsibility to attend.
Xwalacktun and Jada Harry were among hundreds of parents who brought children to the walk. They marched with their son Kwu7s.
“Look,” Xwalacktun said, turning to the crowd, “we have a diverse group of people here and we’re all thinking about reconciliation. Let’s walk together as one people on this, what we call Mother Earth.”
Xwalacktun’s parents each went to residential schools. His father was at St. Paul’s and his mother was at St. Michael’s in Alert Bay.
Said Harry: “They’re both survivors, strong amazing people who have made a huge impact on our family. … We want to just honour them.”