Today is one which is much overdue and has been needed for longer than anyone wants to admit.
#NationalDayofTruthandReconciliation.
The first annual one, to publically acknowledge a horrible part of Canada’s history.
One in which indigenous families had their bonds of love devastatingly broken as their children were taken from them, either forced into residential schools or by violence.
Imagine of your child was taken from you and never seen or heard from again. How would your heart, mind, relationships cope?
Yet our government continued to do this for several generations to our indigenous brothers & sisters, leaving devastation, injustice, coverups and deception in their wake.
I have met a survivor of the residential schools. He could not speak even in generalizations without tears. I have met a woman who does not know where her twin ended up, nor her other siblings. She has been pursuing truth, justice and restoration with all she has within her, knowing that unless her fellow indigenous community are made whole in their loss through speaking truth, acknowledging wrong doing & racism, changing the system to see justice and those who harmed them being held to account – the negative wake these injustices leave behind them cannot be laid to rest.
As a parent, I would want to know where my children are. If they have passed away due to illness or been murdered, I would want to lay my child to rest and reunite them with their Creator, and their heartbroken families.
As a Canadian, I want those who perpetrated crimes in the residential schools to be held accountable, for the truth to come out into the light, & for justice to be administered.
As a Canadian, I want those who perpetrate crimes of racism, rape & murder against the indigenous peoples today to be pursued by law enforcement, held accountable & prosecuted.
We need justice for all, but especially those amongst us who have been ignored for far too long.
One day a year is not enough to invite Canada into this multi layered, multi generational & complex issue.
But it’s a place to start. May it be a catalyst for hope. 🙏
(Prophetic photo crafted by Hawlii Pichette. Brilliant. Honor to its creator.)
KARLA LEES 