Londoners honour 4th National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

More than 250 London-area students were among those who gathered Monday at the Western Fair District Agriplex to mark the fourth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The day is a time for Canadians to remember the children who died in Canada's government-funded, church-run residential school system, the survivors, and the families and communities still affected by trauma.

The students, from June Rose Callwood, Lord Elgin, and Prince Charles public schools, were there to hear speakers and take part in workshops for the final day of theGawii Wiikaa Ga-Nendimisii (NeverEverForget Me)Indigenous Music & Artisan Festival.

The event, led by Chippewas of the Thames First Nation leaders, began two years agowith the aim of honouring children forced into residentialschools. It was one of several events that took place across the country.

Volunteering with one elementary schoolwas Alli White, a Grade 12 student from Montcalm Secondary School.

"The day is mainly a day of education. I take that very to heart," said White, whose family is from Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation, and whose grandmother is a residential school survivor.

White said she gave a presentation on Friday to her school about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

"I just hope they want to take the time more to learn about indigenous topics, and that a day like this is able to give them more education," she said.

She added that other students have been excited about new Grade 11 English courses, introduced this year, with agreater focus on Indigenous voices.

It's estimated more than 150,000 First Nations,Mtis, and Inuit children were forced to attendresidential schools over the course of more than a century.

More than 4,100 children died attending the schools, which operated from the 1870s until 1997, according to a National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation estimate.

Organizers of the event say proceeds will go to the Save the Barn Project to preserve the last standing structure of the Mount Elgin Residential School.

The school, one of only two in southern Ontario, was open from 1851 until 1946 on Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.

Among the speakers Monday wasTodd Cornelius, chief of Oneida Nation of the Thames,Joe Miskokomon, chief of Chippewas of the Thames, London Mayor Josh Morgan, and Grand Chief Joel Abram of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians.

Attendees also heard from Jennie Blackbird, a Walpole Island First Nation elder andsurvivor ofMohawk Institute in Brantford.

"We got a beating and we got strapping. That was the darkest history in North America, what they done to our people," Blackbird told CBC News.

"Truth and reconciliation? Truth was here before air, and we were the truthful people... And reconciliation, that's just words."

2 generations of an Anishinaabe family discuss the state of reconciliation and where we go from here

11 days ago

Duration 15:51

Maeengan Linklater and Aandeg Muldrew, an Anishinaabe father and son, talk about how Aandeg is the first generation of his family to live without the direct impacts of the residential school system and how his father hopes that will open up his life to new possibilities.

Blackbird, a fluent Ojibway speaker, has taught the languagefor years to help keep it alive a decline tied toresidential schools, which discouraged, and often prohibited, children from speaking their own languages.

"The first language in North America was our native language for thousands and thousands of years... The first sounds and the first footprints were our people, and that's all they spoke," Blackbird said.

Musician Edwin Taylor of Walpole Island via Curve Lake First Nation described Blackbird as his"auntie," and said he had learned to speak and teachOjibway, something he says lets "people see that we know who we are."

"Creator, gizhe-manidoo, gave us our language, and it's important. It belongs here... It needs to be spoken."

During the event, jingle dress dancers took to the stage, followed byJuno-winning AnishinaabemusicianWilliam Prince ofPeguis First Nation.

"My Dad went to day school...many, many living relatives that I have are still greatly affected by residential schools, that effect kind of keeps trickling down," Prince said.

"But hopefully we, when we stand here, we stop that ripple a little bit, and we come together and celebrate that Indigenous people are not just our suffering."

Taylor and Blackbird performed a rendition of Taylor's song, "Creator Gave Us Our Language," alongside Linda George, another residential school survivor.

Although most of the song is in Anishinaabemowin, one section is in English.

"They tried to take our language, but they could not / They tried to take our language, butthey could not / They tried assimilation, but we still speak / Anishinaabemowin gaa-miinigooyaang."