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Editorial: Maple Ridge part of day for Truth and Reconciliation

Led by First Nations people and organizations, city hosts meaningful event
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Maple Ridge hosted a vibrant event for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Maple Ridge can be proud of its Orange Shirt Day.

That's the colloquial name for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which was marked this year in Memorial Peace Park on Sunday, Sept. 29.

It was a time for First Nations people to share their culture with each other, and with the community. 

Families could eat traditional foods, watch traditional dance, listen to traditional music, and appreciate First Nations clothing and art.

Children and big kids had fun adding to a community art project by a First Nations artist, and painting their own shirts with the messages of the day – Every Child Matters.

It was a time to talk about the residential schools, the wounds that system left behind, and about what Katzie First Nations Chief Grace George rightly called "Canada's dark history with our people."

Part of that dark history is of course the residential school system that disrupted First Nations lives and communities. Children were forbidden to speak their language, and their culture and traditions were denigrated. They were sexually and physically abused.

Some 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were taken to these schools. An estimated 6,000 children died, but a precise figure is not known, because accurate records were not kept.

The eloquent Chief George spoke about how these children might have become storytellers, keepers of song, keepers of language... but their gifts were stolen by a system created to erase their culture.

It's a day for non-Natives to listen, and to acknowledge the pain caused.

The loss was immeasurable.

Non-Indigenous people must admit the wrongs that were done in the name of nation-building, for reconciliation to begin.

Coun. Onyeka Dozie, representing Mayor Day Ruimy, spoke about what the city has done toward reconciliation.

Before every meeting of council or other event, there is now a land acknowledgement, that we are meeting on the unceded and traditional land of the Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations.

When the city put up street banners and signs, it had the art and language of First Nations people.

At important community events like the BC Summer Games, and the city's 150th anniversary festival, First Nations people have been invited to be part of the official proceedings.

These are small but significant steps toward reconciliation.

The First National Day for Truth and Reconciliation happened on Sept. 30, 2021. It's still a young idea. The people who helped to organize the event in Maple Ridge on Sunday were moved by the large numbers of people who came to be part of this effort, and by the spirit of the day.



About the Author: Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows News Staff

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