‘We don’t want this to be just a symbolic day’: Vancouver unites for National Reconciliation Day

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On a day of heavy rain and cloudy skies, thousands of orange ribbons in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s garden, each depicting a child who died in residential schools across the country, glowed like bright little flames.

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Gena Sanderson knelt before the slat garden, shaking hands with her two grandchildren, 7-year-old Aubrey and 4-year-old Maddox.

Behind her, a shadowy procession of Vancouverites arrived to commemorate the first National Truth and Reconciliation Day by visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery, where a monument made of small shoes, created by Haida artist Tamara Bell, stands. In honor of the indigenous children who died in the residential school, it has become a place of public mourning.

Sanderson, a member of Mama̱liliḵa̱la First Nation in Alert Bay, said: “It makes my heart so happy that so many people are here today.”

The event was one of hundreds held across Canada on a day reserved for the first time this year as a federal legal holiday to give Canadians an opportunity to reflect on the legacies of the residential school system, the impact of the colonial history of the country and to try to find a way towards reconciliation.

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As hundreds of people quietly placed flowers in the ribbon garden and stood silently in front of the little shoes on the south side of the art gallery, on the north side, the elders and members of the indigenous community gathered to play. drumming, talking and singing, and giving a warm welcome to those who chose to participate.

Addressing a crowd full of orange T-shirts, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh elder Byron Joseph expressed his gratitude for the public recognition of the country’s true history and the harms of colonialism. “This is what happened to our ancestors,” Joseph said.

He called on all Canadians to come together, as “one heart and one mind, so that we can overcome this and live together as one,” and raised his hands in a traditional gesture of appreciation to ancestors and gratitude. . “I’m glad everyone is here to listen.”

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Sanderson, who was the first in her family not to go to residential school, reflected on what it meant to listen in a home where stories were silenced by the trauma of residential school.

“My father, my grandparents, they never talked about their experiences,” Sanderson said. “Their stories died with them.”

Bringing her grandchildren to the reunion and wearing a cedar rose that she herself had woven in the tradition of her great-grandmother, was a way to reconnect with those lost stories.

Although seeing the steady stream of people coming to pay their respects lifted her spirits, Sanderson said she hopes all Canadians will speak out about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

“We don’t want this to be just a symbolic day,” Sanderson said, adding, “The most important thing you can do is walk by our side.”

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That’s what Kathleen Yung, her husband Tom Owen and their 19-month-old daughter Sequoia came to do.

“This is a day to reflect and sit down with where we are as a community, and for me to sit and listen, and start to find a way to walk towards reconciliation as a settler,” Yung said. “I want my daughter to grow up understanding the depth of the genocide and the stark inequalities that First Nations people face.”

Owen said: “I couldn’t not be here today. As a settler, I can never fully understand, but we must be willing to enter those spaces that are uncomfortable and listen.

Desiree Simeon, a member of the Haida Nation and director of the residential school vigil on the steps of the art gallery, spent much of the day willingly helping visitors with everything from learning to say a few words in Haida, even explaining what the orange ribbons represent. But he urged everyone to do more.

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Stop trying to learn from textbooks. We are not textbook people. If you want to know us, go to events. Go to the powwows. Go to potlatches and meetings. We will welcome you. “

Tamara Bell, the Haida artist who created the shoe monument after the announcement of the discovery of the remains of 215 children on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, placed a cedar basket in front of the orange ribbon garden.

The basket, woven from strips of unwritten testimony given by witnesses at the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, has an opening like a mouth, where people can leave notes to express their feelings about the day and the history that commemorates the day.

Bell said she was grateful that the day was an opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous peoples to come together, albeit for different reasons. “Indigenous peoples must be here to heal, and Canadians must be here to broaden their understanding.”

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