ਕੈਨੇਡਾ ਵਿੱਚ ‘ਟਰੁੱਥ ਐਂਡ ਰੀਕਾਨਸਲੀਏਸ਼ਨ’ ਦਾ ਪਹਿਲਾ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਦਿਵਸ
Today, Indigenous survivors and children who disappeared from the residential school system will be honored across Canada on the country’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
At 2:15 p.m., singing and drumming were to be heard from Kamloops, where the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation stated in May that ground-penetrating radar had discovered what are thought to be 215 unmarked graves at the site of one of the largest former residential schools.
With the same technology employed in Kamloops, a number of Indigenous nations have reported unearthing unmarked graves at previous residential school sites, spurring global cries for justice.
In June, the federal government created a new legislative holiday to remember the history and ongoing effects of church-run facilities where Indigenous children were abused and separated from their families.
Terry Teegee, regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said it’s a day to reflect on that awful history as well as consider how to alleviate the consequences of 150 years of residential school practises intended at “killing the Indian in the child.”
In 1996, Canada’s last residential school closed.
