The focus of this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event is shifting from the stories of survivors to what others have learned from their stories.
T’Sou-ke Truth for Reconciliation committee member Dave Mallett said the aim to do something different this year is based on perspective from Lou-Ann Neel, a highly respected Kwakwaka’wakw artist from the North Island.
In the past, activities would include stories from residential school survivors, but Neel wanted to change the direction this year because sharing those stories caused trauma for survivors, Mallett said.
“I’d like to hear from non-Indigenous people about what they have learned from having listened to the horrors contained in the stories of survivors and all the information that has surfaced over the past few decades,” Neel explained. “Which truth have you surfaced or told, and then how have you gone about addressing it head on, and or recording it? How many elected officials or representatives have you contacted to let them know your expectations around truth-telling and reconciliation?”
Neel also asks how people hold others accountable to truth-telling so things can be reconciled to ensure the future of Indigenous people in Canada can be improved.
“Please, instead of always asking survivors to re-experience trauma so you can hear it first-hand, or ‘understand’ or be a nice ally, lift away the burden from us and tell us what you are doing,” she implores.
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Mallett is organizing the event with T’Souke Truth for Reconciliation committee members Edith Newman, Margaret Critchlow, and T’Sou-ke Nation member Jackie de Yaeger, who has served as elder in in residence for Edward Milne Community School and as liaison for the group.
’We are delighted to have Sooke Mayor Maja Tait welcoming people to the event,” Mallett said. “T’Sou-ke Nation elder Shirley Alphonse will perform the blessing, as usual.”
Sooke’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event gets underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 30) in the underground parking lot of Sooke branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library at 6671 Wadams Way.
Many of the schools in the Sooke School District, including Sooke elementary are holding assemblies or taking time on Friday or earlier in the week to acknowledge and honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
For more on Neel, visit authenticindigenous.com/artists/lou-ann-neel.