Here's how you can commemorate Truth and Reconciliation Day across B.C.
CBC
National Truth and Reconciliation Day is being recognized as a statutory holiday in B.C. for the first time this year.
Also known as Orange Shirt Day, the day of recognition is based on a grassroots campaign founded by Phyllis Webstad, whose orange shirt was taken from her on her first day at St. Joseph's Mission Residential School near Williams Lake.
Sept. 30 is a day to honour residential school survivors, acknowledge the damage caused by the residential school system, open up the dialogue about reconciliation and to celebrate Indigenous culture.
However, as a relatively new national holiday, how to recognize Sept. 30 is still up for discussion, according to Ginger Gosnell-Myers, a decolonization and urban Indigenous planning fellow at Simon Fraser University.
For Indigenous people, who are still dealing with the legacy of residential schools, Gosnell-Myers said National Truth and Reconciliation Day could be a day for healing, connecting to culture and honouring loved ones who didn't make it back home.
"[We need] to ensure that we do get this day right, that we are hearing from Indigenous Peoples what Indigenous Peoples need," she told Jodie Martinson, guest host of CBC's The Early Edition.
For those who aren't Indigenous, Gosnell-Myers says the day could be spent learning about Indigenous cultures and histories.
"We still have a lot of negative stereotypes against Indigenous Peoples in this country, we still have a lot of discrimination, so the day is needed," she said.
Many schools, businesses, and services will be closed on Monday because the statutory holiday falls on a Saturday this year.
Here are some of the events you can attend across the province to mark the day.
An Orange Shirt Day walk in East Vancouver will begin at the Aboriginal Community Policing Centre on Franklin Street around 9 a.m. on Saturday and will proceed to Grandview Park. There, a ceremony and celebration will take place until 2 p.m., featuring a drum circle, crafting, culture-sharing and food.
A free art workshop is being held by All My Relations, an Indigenous podcast team, at Place des Arts in Coquitlam from 1 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is free, but registering online in advance is recommended.
The Semiahmoo First Nation is hosting their annual walk for Truth and Reconciliation on Saturday. It begins at the Robert Charles Plaza at Semiahmoo Park in White Rock at 11 a.m. The event includes a walk, performances, food, children's activities, and Indigenous vendors.
In Whistler, people can visit the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre on Saturday for a full day of programming, including speakers and cultural activities, like immersive crafts and carving demonstration. Admission is free for the day.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.