Calgarians gather to mark first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

CALGARY – Thursday marked the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and, in Calgary, a banner of the names of children who didn’t make it home from residential schools was on display.

The day also coincides with Orange Shirt Day, an occasion commemorated across the country.

In Alberta, for many, the need to reconcile is deeper, as it is the province that once had the most residential schools.

On Thursday, Mayor Naheed Nenshi spoke about Calgary and Alberta’s commitment to reconciliation, calling it “reconcili-action.”

Back in 2014, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed, with Alberta making a commitment to First Nations, Metis and Inuit people by creating education for reconciliation.

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It is a promise to rebalance the education system — a promise to ensure every student in Alberta is taught about residential schools and treaties.

“We must fight to ensure that every child knows the truth, that every adult knows the truth, that every one of us knows the truth in order to move forward,” said Nenshi.

Nenshi adds we must hold the government of Alberta accountable for those promises.

“It was the children, it was the children who came to us to present to the world that this is who I am this is where I am and at that moment, we could really begin reconciliation,” said Metis Elder Kerrie Moore.

Elder Moore says for many years, people didn’t believe Indigenous people’s stories of a painful past and trauma that generations had endured.

The community hopes now that Canadians have come face to face with our country’s dark history, following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools this past summer, true and meaningful reconciliation can take place.