How forgiveness helped a Mi'kmaw elder on her journey of healing

Mi'kmaw Elder Marlene Thomas says she has come a long way on her healing journey that began when she was in her 30s.

But it's not over yet for the residential school survivor at age 69.

"I'm still on it and I'll probably be on it until the day I die," Thomas said.

Events that mark National Day of Truth and Reconciliation make that journey easier, she said. She took to the podium Saturday at a flag-lowering ceremony near the P.E.I. government buildings in Charlottetown, where she spoke about how forgiveness plays a part in reconciliation.

"It's not these people who did the crime or whatever they did, but we all need to atone for it," she said, referring to the different generations in the crowd.

"It's a long journey and I've got a lot of survivors that can't get there, you know, because they can't talk about it. To get there, you need to talk about it. And then you need to start thinking about forgiveness."

Thomas said hearing a song called Forgiveness by another Mi'kmaw survivor made her realize how important it is. She said she often plays the song before speaking in schools — "and it makes me cry every time."

"Even though these people don't have anything to forgive me for, when you start with forgiveness, it opens the heart up to love and forgiveness. You know what I mean? It goes both ways. You may not like my story, but it's there."

Abegweit Chief Junior Gould says reconciliation on P.E.I. is "going in a good direction."

"Lots of times we get stuck in the political, bureaucratic circle that keeps us going back and forth, back and forth. I think it's only through working together that we determine a better future for our children."

Gould said changes in schools to include Indigenous perspectives, better social and health services for the community and the process of removing offensive geographical names such as Savage Harbour are examples of some positive steps toward reconciliation.

"The only way we can prevent the past from repeating itself is to talk about it and learn from it and move forward in a good way."

Part of that education process took place Saturday afternoon at UPEI. About 200 people were on hand to participate in an exercise where dozens of blankets were spread on a floor representing Turtle Island, which refers to the continent of North America.

Gradually, the blankets were removed as the participants became more crowded together, symbolizing the loss of land due to colonization.