Friday, September 30 marks National Truth and Reconciliation Day.
The day is set to honor the children who never returned home as well as the survivors of residential schools and their families and communities.
With it being the second annual Truth and Reconciliation Day across Canada, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Tkwenem7íple7 Nikki Fraser says the national statutory holiday helps remind people of the work Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples need to continue together.
“Prior to last year, it wasn’t a national holiday and it becoming a national holiday really speaks for itself saying this is why you’re not at work today. It’s kind of like Remembrance Day, remembering and not forgetting what has happened.”
She says even before it was a national holiday, she and her children have always taken time on September 30 to remember their family and reflect on truth and reconciliation.
“I remember as far back when my daughter was maybe one and a half or two and orange shirt day was very, very new; and not a lot of people were doing it but, I remember putting orange shirts on them, sending them to daycare, sending them to preschool and just saying to them, ‘your great grandparents went to residential school, and we wear the shirts for them and we wear these shirts for the children that never made it home.'”
While Truth and Reconciliation means something different for everybody, Fraser says for her it’s about healing.
“It’s sharing your story and having someone just listen and having a safe space to share, to share your truth; that’s what truth is, that’s storytelling– Being able to share what you’ve been through or what that means to you,” she explained. “Reconciliation is how do we how do we move through this in a good way so that we come out the other side, healed.”
“I personally feel like, in order for us to have reconciliation with non-Indigenous communities, we need to have Truth and Reconciliation and Healing and community as well, just because of that intergenerational trauma.”
Fraser suggests September 30 is an opportunity to help educate and create awareness about Canada’s residential schools and the impacts they had on intergenerational trauma.
“I think today, the ‘I just didn’t know is just not an excuse anymore; there are so many of our people who have shared their stories, in plays and movies and books and our events.”
Additionally, she says orange shirt day cannot be an online movement.
“It’s much more than posting a selfie with the hashtag orange shirt. It can’t just be a movement online. It has to be a movement in the community in grassroots in your business, in your line of work.”
Fraser adds that she believes there is a responsibility for allies and Canadians to step up and educate themselves about the 94 calls to action.
“When you read them, as one individual, it may be like, ‘Oh, I can’t do this.’ But, if you just take one of those, and work on that, then share those 94 calls to action with other people, and then they take one and try to incorporate that; I think it’s just a good positive ripple effect that could happen.”
In Kamloops, Fraser says there has been improvement with the 94 calls to action, something she explains starts with a mutual respect for being heard.
“I think it starts with being able to sit down at a table together and have that mutual respect of being heard and not continuously feeling like we’re brushed off to the side.”
While it is just the beginning, Fraser says having September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation will be a constant reminder to continue taking steps towards healing, together.
“Not alone but together, and it can’t just be in indigenous people and the government. It includes all sectors, private sector, Canadian and Indigenous people.”
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