Kamloops residential school survivor calls for leadership on reconciliation, funding ahead of PM's visit
CBC
A survivor of the Kamloops Indian Residential School is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to show more leadership on reconciliation and pledge additional funding for her community, ahead of a meeting on Monday.
In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday, Diena Jules, a Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc elder, said it was "quite disappointing and disheartening" that Trudeau had not met with the First Nation earlier. But she added she was "really glad that he's coming to pay honour and respect to our loved ones that are buried there."
Trudeau travelled to Kamloops, B.C., on Sunday and will meet with the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Nation on Monday, holding a news conference with Kukpi7 (chief) Rosanne Casimir and an event with the community to hear from and honour residential school survivors.
Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Nation is located near the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, where about 200 possible unmarked burial sites were detected by a radar survey this past spring.
Jules, who will be at Monday's event, said she hoped that Trudeau would "walk the talk" when it came to reconciliation with Indigenous people.
"If you want other people within Canada to really understand and appreciate and have compassion for what us residential school survivors have gone through, then you really need to be the role model," she said.
Trudeau apologized for not following up earlier on two written invitations by the First Nation to attend an event there on Sept. 30, Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. He also recently expressed regret for instead flying to Tofino, B.C., for a family vacation that day.
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