National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrations Give Way for Reflection
National Indigenous Peoples Day has been commemorated on June 21st each year in Canada since 1996, making this year its 25th anniversary.
This day is intended to be a time for people to recognize and celebrate the heritage, cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples to the country. However, this year many of the joyous celebrations have given way to quiet contemplation.
Today, a vigil will be held for the 215 children whose bodies were recently discovered in unmarked graves at the Kamloops residential school site.
Those who organized the kids’ shoe memorial at the Vancouver Art Gallery are asking people to mourn and remember the children at 7 p.m. Kamloops time.
Phyllis Sinclair an Indigenous Fort Saskatchewan resident and a singer-songwriter as well as a public speaker has said she was not surprised to after hear stories of children disappearing from residential schools. She hopes that by learning what happened this will help Canadians who didn’t believe in the horrors of residential schools to better understand and ensure nothing like this happens again in the future.
The event is being promoted on Facebook by those associated with the existing shoe memorial, has become an important space for meeting, healing and learning about residential schools.
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