Canada Day muted by remembrances

INDIGENOUS

• Canadians traded in the traditional red-andwhite garb for Canada Day, donning orange, building memorials and taking part in events as part of a national reckoning with the horrific legacy of residential schools on Indigenous Peoples.

Many of the special events normally associated with Canada Day were either cancelled or scaled back, after hundreds of unmarked graves were found at residential school sites in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

In his Canada Day message, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the horrific findings at the site of former residential schools have “rightfully pressed us to reflect on our country’s historical failures” and injustices that still exist for many.

“While we can’t change the past, we must be resolute in confronting these truths in order to chart a new and better path forward. Together, we have a long way to go to make things right with Indigenous Peoples,” said Trudeau.

Chants of, “No pride in genocide,” echoed from orange-clad crowds of about 200 in the rain in St. John’s, N.L., to the estimated 3,000 who marched on Parliament Hill where there was a makeshift memorial of shoes, signifying the young lives lost.

In Montreal, marchers held banners that read “bring our children home,” those in Edmonton and elsewhere had shirts that read “Every Child Matters,” and the flag atop the Peace Tower was at half-mast to honour the Indigenous children who died in residential schools.

“It’s not like we’re asking for every single Canada Day to be taken away,” said Sheena Ballantyne, who was taking part in a march in Edmonton. “It’s one day out of the year to honour these babies that were found that never went home.”

And in downtown Halifax, a group of 15 read from the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the history and legacy of residential schools.

“Canada is having a reckoning with its history,” said Akwasi Owusu-bempah, a University of Toronto sociology professor who studies race, crime and criminal justice. “I don’t think we can celebrate this country for what it is without recognizing this country for what it isn’t: a utopia and a bastion of equality and freedom and equal opportunity for all members of society,” he said.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde used his Canada Day message to call for transformational change in the lives of Indigenous Peoples, including justice for residential school survivors.

“There is an opportunity for all levels of government to act on First Nations’ priorities,” Bellegarde said in a video message. “There is a strong foundation for continued progress, but there remains much more work ahead of all of us. We cannot lose the momentum.”

Conservative Leader Erin O’toole, in a Canada Day statement, said reconciliation must be a central focus for the future, but the work starts by building up all people in the country.

“We can celebrate the country that we are and the one we aspire to be,” he said.