Local communities are marking Truth and Reconciliation Day Sept. 30 with events including memorial walks.
In Morden, the day kicks off with a flag raising outside of the Access Event Centre, while Altona will also be holding a memorial walk as well as hosting a guest speaker later in the week.
“Making this a national day to stop and take note of it and recognize it as part of our national history is one of those essential things to finding our way forward,” said Dianne Hildebrand, a member of the Truth and Action Working Group based in Morden, where it is hosting the ceremony and event in conjunction with Genesis House and the City of Morden.
“And the REDdress Project is going to be involved as well, so we’ve got a number of partners working together on it.”
It kicks off at 10 a.m. in the Access Event Centre parking lot with a flag raising ceremony along with a couple speakers.
“Then we’ll be doing a walk, and it will be followed by time for people to share bannock together inside, and there will be displays inside from Genesis House and the Truth and Action Working Group and the Pembina Valley REDdress Project,” said Hildebrand, noting red dresses will be on display both inside and outside along with a display about the residential schools.
Hildebrand reflected on the importance of the day and the event.
“I think one of the biggest things is this day comes out of the calls to action that came from the truth and reconciliation commission,” she said, citing also such events as the discovery of more residential school grave sites.
“I think what we’ve seen, in people’s responses, is that many people in our communities are beginning to realize their own personal and family connections with Indigenous people, and they are learning to explore and celebrate it while also recognizing the reality and the pain of this part of the history of our country.”
She added a vast majority of people can find they have some connection to someone impacted by it.
“Part of the reason that a day like this is important is that many of these stories have been hidden from people,” she suggested.
“That’s how the conversations and the relationships change, when it shifts from being us and them to recognizing that we really are in this together,” she continued.
“Even though the discrimination is ongoing, there’s a lot of grace among Indigenous people for how long it’s taking a lot of us to figure it out … and there’s a real desire to move forward in a better way … and this is a good opportunity for that.”
Meanwhile, in Altona, the Steps Toward Reconciliation group also has a couple of events to recognize truth and reconciliation week including a Sept. 30 event in cooperation with Border Land School Division and The Community Exchange (TCE).
People were invited to climb aboard the bus located at TCE to go to Roseau Valley School in Dominion City to join the memorial walk to the monument at Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation which honours victims and survivors of the residential schools.
Then on Sat. Oct. 4, Dr. Karen Froman from the University of Winnipeg will be at the TCE to talk about residential schools.
