‘A great nation with a dark history’: Thousands march for truth and reconciliation By: Tyler Searle Posted: 12:32 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 30, 2024 Last Modified: 4:23 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 30, 2024 Updates

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Manitobans paused Monday to reflect on the legacy of Canada’s residential school system and honour those affected by it.

An orange wave swept through downtown Winnipeg in the morning, with thousands participating in a march and powwow hosted by Wa-say Healing Centre. It was the first time the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was recognized as a provincial statutory holiday.

“Today is to remember the things that were taken from us as a people,” said Ian Desjarlais, who joined the march with his partner Lea-Ann and their 18-month-old daughter Galaxy.

“It’s to remember who we are and where we could be, as opposed to where we are at now, because there is a lot of us struggling… Canada is a great nation with a dark history.”

Indigenous elders at The Forks started the morning with a pipe ceremony before inviting community leaders to speak at the Oodena Celebration Circle.

The crowd included people of various cultures, ages, backgrounds and physical abilities.

Sukhmeet Singh said he was there in solidarity with Indigenous people. He and fellow members of Winnipeg’s Sikh community gave out hundreds of free water bottles.

“The purpose of us coming here is just to support them,” Singh said. “Our main motive is we are just spreading one-ness and love.”

Indigenous leaders — including Southern Chiefs Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, and Betsy Kennedy, acting grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs — stressed the importance of family and resilience.

The day is about keeping families together and “talking about what happened and what will never happen again,” Daniels said.

Kennedy, who is a residential school survivor, spoke about the pain the colonial system inflicted on children and their families.

“This one day is a statutory holiday, but remember every day of your life the children and the survivors,” she said.

Premier Wab Kinew, who enshrined the day in legislation as one of his first acts after taking over provincial leadership, echoed that sentiment in a statement.

Although Sept. 30 was recognized as a federal statutory holiday in 2021, Manitoba is one of only a few places to extend it to the provincial level — joining British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon.

“It’s our hope you spend this day with your family, enjoying each other’s company — a thing that was denied for so many Indigenous families,” Kinew said. “Every person in our province matters. Every Manitoban deserves a good life.”

Desjarlais kept one eye on the public speakers and the other on his daughter, who tumbled and played with other children on the grassy, sloped walls of the outdoor amphitheatre.

It was the second time he’d brought Galaxy to participate in TRC Day events, hoping “to show her she matters in everybody’s life,” he said.

Marchers left The Forks shortly after the speeches, heading along Israel Asper Way before turning onto York Avenue and then north down Main Street.

Plumes of smoke from traditional medicines drifted through the air, accompanied by pounding drums played by those in the crowd.

Their route took them to Portage and Main, which has been a site of celebration and sorrow for some in Winnipeg’s Indigenous community.

A round dance was held at the intersection in July, after serial killer Jeremy Skibicki was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of three First Nations women. One year prior, people rallied there demanding the government support searches of Winnipeg-area landfills for the women’s remains.

The province has committed to the search, which is slated to begin this fall.

The crowd then continued west to Kennedy Street and on to the RBC Convention Centre, where Wa-Say hosted a powwow.

Wayne Mason Jr., Wa-Say’s director of operations, thanked people for participating in the march and powwow, which is now in its fourth consecutive year.

His voice caught in his throat and he paused to compose himself — drawing a cheer of support from the crowd — as he explained the event was nearly cancelled after the centre lost funding support from the federal government.

The centre announced the event was cancelled in a post on social media at the beginning of September, but later said it would continue as planned thanks to funding support from the province and others, including the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.

Elsewhere, at the site of a former residential school on Academy Road, residential school survivors gathered to mark the day.

“I just wanted to see my name and make sure they didn’t forget about me,” said Gertrude Monias, whose name is one of dozens etched into a memorial outside the Assiniboia Residential School.

“When something happens to you as a child, you remember, but you can’t… cry, you can’t yell, you can’t tell — you just have to take it.”

Monias was taken from her home in St. Theresa’s Point First Nation and sent to the Winnipeg school when she was just 14.

She returned Monday with her daughter and grandchild to gather the sage that grew near the memorial, saying she would use the plant — considered a sacred Indigenous medicine — in healing ceremonies.

“This is the place I need to heal from.”

Dan Donahue was also among those who visited the memorial, saying he lived near the residential school when he was about seven years old.

“It just brings back a lot of sad memories,” he said, holding back tears. “I was always struck as a child of these very small kids… not fathoming what it would be like growing up without family.”

“Those images have stuck with me, and to a certain degree, haunted me.”

Donahue said Monday was not about “fun and recreation” but about “mourning and remembrance.”

Monias felt the same.

“The truth is coming out. The pain you hear, the hurt that you hear, that’s the truth.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.