A trio of organizations worked together to make the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation a time for thoughtful reflection. It was also a time to share music, share culture and come to a deeper understanding of truth for the lives of residential school survivors.
Virtuoso fiddle player, teacher and activist Tristen Durocher spent Friday night and Saturday morning in Humboldt for a pair of events. The Gallery hosted a concert by Tristan, sponsored by Arts Humboldt. The musician spoke about his early days learning the instrument and growing up with his family in a musical tradition. The tunes were amazing, as was the warmth and humour of his story telling.
On Saturday morning, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, several dozen Humboldt and area residents gathered beneath the Kevin Peeace mural in Civic Park to mount a walk to Westminster United Church. Banners and signs recognizing Treaties and supporting renewed relationships travelled with the walkers, all bedecked in orange shirts. The walk was organized by Westminster United’s Affirm team with funding support from Culture Days through the City of Humboldt’s Cultural Services Department.
A lunch of bannock, tea and coffee awaited the walkers’ arrival. Durocher gave a half hour talk, reflecting on his journey and the impact of residential schools on his own family. In the summer of 2020, the 27-year-old teaching student spent long days walking from his home in Air Ronge and setting up a teepee for his 44 day fast at the Legislative Building. It was all in aid of supporting a suicide prevention bill that had been nixed by the provincial government. The bill was eventually passed.
Durocher reminded those gathered that residential schools had been in place since the early settlement of the prairies, and their existence extended into recent times.
“If you look at me, do I look very old? I was born in 1996; that was the year the last residential school closed,” Durocher said, referring to the George Gordon Residential School south of Punnichy. “So if you think of my life as a time marker, you can tell Indigenous people that we need to move on and get over it, and that it happened a long time ago, because it didn’t. It’s still living memory within our grandparents, aunties and uncles, and our communities.”
Durocher went on to talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commision’s report and the radar imaging discovery of unmarked graves on or near school sites across Canada. Durocher noted estimates of around 6,000 children unaccounted for.
Listen to the Truth and Reconciliation Day address by Tristen Durocher.
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