'This is their future': Youth involvement key to advancing reconciliation, Qalipu chief says

Jenny Brake, marking her first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as chief of the Qalipu First Nation, says everyone has a role to play in reconciliation efforts, especially the province's young people.

In an interview with CBC News, Brake said serving as chief on Sept. 30 is something she won't take lightly. She'll help lead ceremonies at Mikwite'tm Garden in Corner Brook — which she helped design, as an artist and welder by trade, to honour and recognize Indigenous people of the past.

"There's so much responsibility to educate our communities and to support them on a day that … brings about a lot of pain and a lot of memories for a lot of folks," Brake said Thursday.

"We have a dark past in Canada. But by supporting one another, and hopefully through the leadership role that I have, I can do that and make sure that everyone comes together in the true spirit of reconciliation."

Brake has served as Qalipu Nation's first female chief since December.

She said she's seen an uptick in youth involvement, which she says is key to propelling both Qalipu interests and truth and reconciliation efforts forward.

"All of our traditions and values, they need to be carried forward in the future, and we need our youth to do that," she said.

"This is their community. This is their future. And the more that we can sit with them and share with them and give them opportunities to come to the table, we need to hear their voices. It's so important."

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has existed on Sept. 30 in Canada since 2021. It's a day off work for many, but Brake said it's by no means a holiday.

She hopes Monday can serve as a day of reflection on the past that allows people to come together.

"On Truth and Reconciliation Day, most Indigenous folks will gather. They'll get together, they'll take part in ceremony. It's important to for us to support one another and to hold one another up, but I think everyone expresses their observation to every day in their own way," Brake said.

"I think it's important that we all respect, you know, where everyone needs to be on that day. But I absolutely feel that it's important to hold the ones you love closest to you."

Brake said governments recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a great step forward, but added there's still work to be done.

"We can't change what happened, but we can learn from it and we can move forward in a good way."