On Thursday, Sept. 30, Canada will mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a statutory holiday for federal employees. Other local employers have chosen to recognize it as a holiday as well.
And there’s no school that day for Squamish kids.
The federal government’s move to create the official holiday was in response to recommendation 80 in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action, of which there are 94.
The point of the day is “to honour survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process,” the call to action states.
So, if you have the day off, how will you follow through on the opportunity the day provides?
If you are working, how will you stop and honour the intent of the day?
This critical opportunity could easily turn into a simple day off like Labour Day is for most.
The worker’s stat was initially in response to the “Nine-Hour Movement,” which started in Toronto and spread.
When was the last time you heard folks talk about workers’ rights on Labour Day?
It is mostly a day where the mantra is: “If you aren’t at the lake, where you at?”
Let’s not let our new TRC day turn into that.
Instead, let’s think of it as similar to Remembrance Day, when we collectively stop, truly stop, and honour and reflect.
For this first Sept. 30 holiday, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation — the band which garnered global attention after remains were found on the Kamloops Indian Residential School grounds — has called on everyone to drum and sing for the missing children of Indian Residential Schools starting at 2:15 p.m.
“It’s time to honour the children and the unrelenting spirit of these Ancestors. It’s time to drum for the healing of the Indian Residential Schools survivors who carried the burden of knowing where the children were buried, and to drum for the healing of the families and communities whose children did not come home,” stated Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir in a news release.
[Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc has a video of a song you can drum or sing to on its website.]
Locally, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation members will hold a downtown Truth and Reconciliation Commemoration Event.
“We will be gathering as [a] community to honour, remember and pay our respects to the survivors of the residential schools and those who never made it home. We will also celebrate our resilience as Indigenous Peoples and the resurgence and reclamation of our ancestral teachings,” reads the event’s description.
Meet at O’siyam Pavillion, downtown at 1 p.m. The event runs until 3 p.m. Wear your orange shirt if you have one.
But most importantly, whether you are working or not, stop on Sept. 30 and pay homage to the spirit of the day.
