National Truth and Reconciliation Day September 30, 2024 – How will you spend the day?
On September 30, 2021 I stood on a bridge lined with dozens of pairs of children’s shoes. We had travelled to this community on our way to the West Coast, stopping to mark the significance of the day.
Years before I was aware of Orange Shirt Day, my husband and I started taking our birthdays off work.
Now that my birthday has become a designated day of commemoration, I wondered how could Ikeep
that commitment and also participate in this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
In 2021, I discovered in an on-line search that Tseshaht Nation https://tseshaht.com/ was hosting a Community Walk to Support Residential Survivors. I contacted the organizer, explained I was going to be visiting in their territory and asked if and how I could contribute to their efforts. I was invited to volunteer my time at the event. So that is how I came to be on that bridge, on that day, in a community I knew nothing much about except that Alberni Residential School was located close by and that there was a grim history, as well as a story of resilience.
In what is now known as Port Alberni, it was pelting down rain as we joined the walk with the Residential School Survivors and their supporters. I was struck by the large number of family groupings, with gramas and grand babies, ranging in age from maybe 4 to 84. I witnessed an elderly First Nations woman pushing forward on a walker across the bridge, with only a plastic rain poncho for protection. And still, she walked with her head high. I went from feeling sorry for myself – out of my comfort zone, wondering what right I had to be there with my Settler guilt – to a level of deep respect that this woman had clearly survived so much more than I would ever likely face in my lifetime. People welcomed my family into the procession without question.
After we crossed the bridge, with voices united in song and drumming to guide us, we passed by the community building, down a road into the heart of the community. There was a gargantuan fire burning, chairs organized in a square, on each side representatives of families that had travelled for the occasion, food being served to everyone and tables showcasing the creations of local artists, a wellness area where participants could receive ceremonial healing.
At First Nations events the hosts are generous in spirit and guests are always treated well. My husband was engaged by an Elder who charged him with the responsibility of being a witness – asking that he pass on to others what he experienced and learned from being there. We listened as speakers from the leadership of the surrounding communities spoke about their roots in that territory, paid respect to the Elders/Survivors and told about history for which they were seeking healing. A documentary movie was broadcast on the theme of residential schools, recovery and resilience. All this in the shadow of the building which had housed the former residential school and now is being used for community programs. Difficult to describe in words, humbling in a way that I am able toreturn to now as I look back on it.
I bristle when I hear Sept 30 th, our National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, being referred to as a statutory holiday or a day off. I share my experience from that year as a way to invite and challenge you to step up to the responsibility we have to move goals of reconciliation forward by taking that day to remember, to honour and also to continue on your own learning journey. As a social worker who belongs to the BCGEU, a GVAT member organization, I am sometimes asked how do I learn more about the local history and develop relationship with the people in the territory where I live, work and play. Take a risk. Reach out. Go to community events that are organized by people who want to engage Canadians in walking this walk together.
All my relations,
Sue Ward
Member of GVAT member organizations, BCGEU and Congregation Emanu-El, and member of GVAT’s Indigenous Relationships Learning Circle
