Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that the Truth and Reconciliation ceremony is about “all the truth” and honouring children affected by residential schools.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney returned to Edmonton on Wednesday for meetings with First Nations leaders and families and to mark the sixth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Fort Edmonton Park.
In remarks delivered Wednesday morning, Carney said the day was “about all the truth,” adding that it was “for the children,” including “Those children. Those survivors. Those who didn’t survive.”
Carney used the occasion to call for reflection on Canada’s history and said the ceremony urged people to hear the stories of those affected by residential schools and “reflect on a dark chapter in Canada’s past and to commit to move forward together.” He later described reconciliation as “a journey, not a destination” and said, “Our job is to move together as far and as fast down the path as we can.”
The day is a remembrance of Indigenous children who suffered malnutrition and abuse over decades in Canada’s residential school system, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that the schools were central to a state-backed policy of cultural genocide.
A ceremony area at Fort Edmonton Park included dozens of people wearing bright orange shirts, the symbol for children who attended residential schools, and gathering with bannock and warm beverages on a chilly autumn morning.
Before Carney’s remarks, Treaty 6 chiefs entered the ceremony area marching to the beat of drums and dressed in traditional attire. Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani spoke, and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also present.
Treaty 6 Grand Chief George Arcand Jr. said healing is especially important, telling the crowd that reconciliation requires truth and that untruths about Canada’s past “stand directly in the way of healing our relationship and moving forward in a good way.”
Andrea Sandmaier, president of the Otipemisiwak Métis government, said truth and reconciliation is “not just for one day of the year” and urged non-Indigenous people who see residential school denialism to “call it out,” saying misinformation and racism should not spread unchecked through communities.
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