Sept. 30 a day for learning, acknowledging and restoration

Raye St. Denys, executive director at Shining Mountains, hopes people realize the new holiday’s actual purpose.

“It’s like November 11. September 30 is not a day to have a BBQ or drinks in the bar. It’s to learn, and acknowledge that these things happened in Canada,” she says, noting the number of bodies recovered is well into the thousands.

“The most important piece is that we share truth, and take a step forward in making things right that were done wrong by our governments, modern and colonial, as well as the Catholic church. I had a conversation with a woman recently who’s a very strong Catholic, and she hasn’t been able to go to her church since the 215 were found. She said she just couldn’t go.”

St. Denys says too that it’s time to stop calling them schools.

“I’m a teacher by profession, and what they call schools were closer to concentration camps. We send our kids to school every day and they’re not being sent to what those kids of the past were sentenced to,” she says.

“Learning is only the first step. What actions are you going to take? How are you going to make amends, and how will you reconcile? How can you give us our land back, including our homes that were burnt to the ground? How can you give us our children’s lives back? People need to think about what that really means, and it isn’t just about handing out money.”

This month, the Bishops of Canada issued a national apology and committed $30 million over five years, “as a tangible expression of their commitment to walk with the Indigenous Peoples of this land along the pathway of hope.”

Tanya Schur, UAVS community facilitator, calls those developments a positive step, but adds it isn’t enough to right wrongs.

“Righting the wrong is my idea of justice, and that revolves around restoration. The relationship between Indigenous people and settlers was never right, except when the Indigenous people, in good faith, got them through the first winter and taught them how to live in this climate,” Schur says.

“People wearing orange t-shirts on September 30 have an opportunity to stand in solidarity with Indigenous people to push our governments at all levels towards keeping their promises and commitments to reconciliation.”

To Schur, an orange shirt shows the wearer acknowledges what happened, and understands more needs doing.

“We’re not there yet,” she says. “The fulfillment of promises by governments and churches isn’t happening fast enough for healing to occur, which again would be the restoration of right relations. That means as an Indigenous person my relationship to my culture, my spirituality, family, community and other nations is restored, but most importantly what’s restored is my relationship with the creator.”

It’s complex, but not impossible, says Schur, opining that money is being wasted at the bureaucratic level, and suggesting the federal government can’t even get right the “low-hanging fruit” that is restoring clean drinking water to all Indigenous communities.

“There are things we can do to bring about reconciliation at the community level. I as an Indigenous and half-white person have work to do, and so do settlers. When a white person asks us ‘What is it that you people want and how much is going to be enough?’ I always say just give us back our land. There are a lot myths out there that need to be addressed,” says Schur.

“The reason some people don’t want equality is because as a white person, for example, I don’t want to lose what I have in order for brown people to become equal to me. A person is all about equality, unless it means less for that person. It’s fear-based, and we have to figure out how to move to a love-based system.”

In addition to Thursday’s events at Shining Mountains, Love Yoga Grace is hosting a community session from 6-7:30 p.m. in Capstone, with listening, learning, drumming and singing, including by the Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe. Admission is by donation to Red Deer-based Remembering the Children Society.

There is also an Emerging Artists event starting at 6 p.m. inside the City’s Culture Services Centre (5205 48 Avenue). It will feature local Blackfoot painter Ryan Jason Allen Willert. Admission is free.

Another event is taking place in Sylvan Lake:

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Sept. 30 a day for learning, acknowledging and restoration

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