'We're healing': Marches, drum ceremonies mark first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in B.C.
CBC
For years, the children and staff of the səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) walked from their reserve every day to the St. Paul's Indian Residential School in North Vancouver, B.C.
The journey of more than eight kilometres took close to two hours.
"That was a lot of hurt and pain that they had to walk into," said Gabriel George, the director of treaty lands and resources for the nation.
More than 2,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the school during its operation from 1899 to 1959. Public records show at least 12 died while attending the school between 1904 and 1913.
On Thursday, several hundred people set out on the same walk, including those who had once made the journey as children. This time, however, it was called a pilgrimage, to commemorate the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
"We wanted to reset the course," George said. "We can do something physically that will help us emotionally, spiritually and mentally."
Jen Thomas, the nation's newly elected chief, said her father was among the survivors who once had to walk.
