Why some Sask. people aren't celebrating Canada on July 1

WARNING: This story contains distressing details

Some people in Saskatchewan are changing the way that they mark July 1, with the emphasis shifting from an uncritical celebration of Canada to an opportunity for reflection, truth and reconciliation.

"Canada Day celebrates 155 years of genocide and colonial violence," said Ezra Forest (they/them). The Cree 24-year-old, from Treaty 6 territory, has helped organize a Cancel Canada Day gathering happening Friday in Saskatoon. 

"This is really important to cancel, because there are those before us and those after us who need to be honoured and respected in the indigenous communities," said Forest, who is the Wâpahki program co-ordinator with Chokecherry studios, a Saskatoon non-profit offering arts-based programming and mentorship to young artists in inner-city Saskatoon. 

"We are doing this for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, two-spirit, and also for those affected by the residential schools."

Saskatchewan poet laureate Carol Rose GoldenEagle said she felt tremendously conflicted about participating in Canada Day celebrations.

These feelings swelled about a year ago, after Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme announced to the world that radar technology had identified 751 potential unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School, about 140 kilometres east of Regina.

"I was so hurt, heartbroken by the news, and all of the subsequent tally of children who never made it home, that I just said to myself I can't celebrate Canada Day," GoldenEagle said. "I decided I wasn't boycotting Canada, but I was making a statement about the dark history of the treatment of Indigenous people in this country."

But then the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre approached her and asked to participate with their float. As she pondered the question, she acknowledged the centre does a lot of work toward reconciliation and felt it made sense to try to move forward with art and culture. 

"I think everyone needs to be mindful of what happened, and say okay you know what I am somehow going to mark the day, because I think it's important for us to celebrate but also reflect and acknowledge," she said.

"We need to honour those children and then move forward so that this type of crime never happens again in this country."

For decades, the public's approach to Canada Day celebrations was relatively consistent, said Raymond Blake, a professor in the department of history at University of Regina. His recent research has explored identity, citizenship and how these notions have changed in recent decades. 

"It was our sort of rah-rah day, let's get out and let's celebrate one of the best nations in the world, and what we've accomplished as a people." 

However, Blake said the uncritical enthusiasm noticeably began to waver about five to seven years ago as the 150th anniversary of confederation neared.