In N.W.T, Truth and Reconciliation Day marked by sharing, community, and calls for change
CBC
In Yellowknife on Saturday, dozens of people gathered at the N'dilo gym to honour survivors of residential schools and mourn the children who never made it home.
N'dilo Chief Fred Sangris gave the opening remarks as attendees stood in a circle around a sacred fire.
"Right across the country, truth and reconciliation is happening. But we can never bring back those children…," Sangris said.
"Even though it's a sad time in our lives, we're going to be opening up and talking about the residential schools, to get truth for the many Canadians like yourselves who should know the truth."
The gathering, which was organized by the wellness team at Yellowknives Dene First Nation, was one of many events held across the territory this week for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It started outside with opening remarks and drumming from the YKDFN drummers. Then everyone moved inside the N'Dilo gym, where there were presentations from guest speakers and a sharing circle where survivors and those who lost family members at residential schools got a chance to be together and tell their stories.
Residential school survivor and Dene National Chief Gerald Antoine was one of the guest speakers. In an interview with CBC before the event, he called it a 'special' day.
"When I saw the colour of orange this morning there, it just really enlightens me and lifts me up," he said.
"Today is making me very hopeful that with creating and fostering the relationships forward in a good way, it's going to make us have a better future."
But for some survivors of residential schools, the day can be painful.
In Fort Smith, N.W.T., residential school survivor and retired educator, Pauline Tardiff, said that she struggles with her residential school memories that resurface around orange shirt day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Tardiff was first taken to residential school Grollier Hall in Inuvik when she was nine years old. Both her parents and all but two of her ten siblings went to residential school. The two who did not go, her youngest siblings, were able to go to school in their home community of Aklavik until high school, when they were forced to move to Inuvik on their own to attend high school.
"I never tire of telling the fact that I'm not sure we're as far ahead as we'd like to be. I still feel so jilted by the system … I'm from a family of 11, and there's only two of us left," she said.
Tardiff said that she will keep telling her story, but she wishes that change would come more quickly.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Outside a hockey arena in the Copper Cliff neighbourhood of Sudbury, Ont., there's a group of three interconnected trailers with the Statistics Canada logo blazoned at the top.
In Victoria Joumaa's Halifax home, there are bedrooms furnished with single beds — soccer balls on the nightstands in one room, a pink owl clock and a plush panda toy in the other — with clothing in both closets, all for children who do not live there.
If you stand in the trees and brush between Trout Creek and Kurtis Carter and Kassandra Chudiak's home in Sussex, you can hear water rushing by.
Montreal and provincial police have made several arrests Thursday morning targeting the Rizzuto family in the Montreal area, Radio-Canada is reporting.
Terry Romanski says he knew by the May long weekend that something bad had happened to his son.
As some northern Saskatchewan residents begin returning to their communities, Matthew Maurer says local businesses are running low emotionally and financially, with no support from the provincial government.
Three years after approving an anti-racism strategy, Edmonton city council has decided on the parameters for an independent body to oversee efforts within the community.
A Surrey, B.C., man says two recent shootings at his businesses are connected to ongoing extortion attempts targeting the South Asian community.
The only Friday the 13th of the year is coming up this week and for Port Dover, Ont., that means the return of the famous biker rally.
Stellantis workers at the Windsor, Ont., assembly plant are returning to two full shifts a week earlier than previously expected.
As Alberta faces the prospect of another summer plagued by wildfire smoke, experts are urging people to monitor conditions and take steps to protect their long-term health.
Before Justin Gill began working at NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), he thought fentanyl was the most toxic substance impacting drug users in Thunder Bay, Ont.