
National holiday is just one part of reconciliation, say Yukoners
CBC
As thousands of Yukon public service workers observe Thursday's holiday, Joanne Henry and her staff will be providing on-the-ground support to residential school survivors, like they have for the last 14 years.
Henry, the executive director of the Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools Society (CAIRS), doesn't have the day off. She's working on the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The federal statutory holiday, adopted by the Yukon, is intended to honour residential school survivors and their families through public commemoration.
But Henry, who was forced to attend Lower Post Residential School as a young girl, says she and others suffered constant abuse at the hands of the Canadian government and the church — and one day of remembrance doesn't go far enough.
"All of a sudden, the government said 'here's a day for you, recognize it, woo-hoo, carry on,'" Henry said. "No disrespect to that day, but it's like, come on — we've been doing this for years, asking for reconciliation.
"If you recognize that day, great. Good for you. But do it every day of the year — because we have."
On this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, CBC set out to see whether the day is coming together as it's intended to, and what work still needs to be done to acknowledge the lasting legacy of Canada's residential school system in the Yukon.

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