Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and Garden River First Nation Coun. Travis Jones eagerness to focus on working together in the future
Sault Ste. Marie and Garden River First Nation officials and community members gathered today for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Approximately 100 people, most of them wearing orange Every Child Matters shirts, met for the occasion at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.
Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker described the two-pronged nature of remembrance and cooperation at today’s ceremony.
“It was a day of remembering the horrors and atrocities that happened at residential schools, including two here in our community, at Shingwauk Indian Residential School and Wawanosh Residential School.
“Not just remembering them but also learning from them and knowing how we can ensure that things like that never happen again,” Shoemaker told SooToday.
He said the gathering was also to celebrate Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities moving forward together in truth and reconciliation.
The event was a reaffirmation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie and Garden River First Nation’s Friendship Accord, signed earlier this year to deepen the relationship between the two communities.
“(We have to) work together towards creating a better understanding of each other’s cultures and integrating Indigenous cultural practices into the city’s events and the city’s ceremonies – and that’s what we’ve been trying to do over the last number of years,” Shoemaker said.
Today’s ceremony included prayers, songs, a pipe ceremony, a sharing of sombre memories from Spanish Residential School survivor Barb Nolan, and a feast.
Nolan said she remembers the many tears she shed while being separated from her family to attend the residential school, not being allowed to speak her native language and the punishment that students faced.
A small chair stood in the middle of the pavilion to honour children who attended residential schools.
Shoemaker and Garden River band councillor Travis Jones – in attendance on behalf of Chief Karen Bell – participated in a wampum belt ceremony as a sign of diplomatic goodwill and cooperation between the Sault and the First Nation.
The two leaders also exchanged artwork.
“Those are typically nation-to-nation exchanges. We are one of, if not the only community, where it’s a city-to-nation exchange of wampum. So, it’s a really deep sense of pride to be in a community that I think is at the cutting edge of reconciliation efforts with our First Nation neighbours,” Shoemaker said.
The two-row wampum belt serves as a visual and spiritual connection between the city and Garden River First Nation
“You look at the reasons why we have a Truth and Reconciliation Day, because Canada took a group of people and tried to make them feel dirty about who they were and hoping that they wouldn’t want to be who they are any more,” Jones said.
“When you do that a lot of negative things happen. But today is a celebration of recognizing that and moving forward in a positive way.”
His grandparents went through the residential school system and his parents attended Indian Day School in Garden River.
“We want to focus on the nation-to-nation relationship and what’s common between the two nations because a rich vibrant Canada, a rich vibrant Ontario, a rich vibrant Sault Ste. Marie benefits First Nations at Batchewana and Garden River.
“We’re all the same people. We all have kids at the same schools and we all have the same deep concern about how we could move forward in a positive way,” he said, adding he was inspired by today’s ceremony.
“You see the sincerity in the (City of Sault Ste. Marie’s) commitment to moving forward in a positive way. Garden River feels lucky to have a neighbour like Sault Ste. Marie.”
Shoemaker said the city is committed to working with Garden River First Nation and Batchewana First Nation on many files, including anti-racism initiatives and water protection.
“We’ve had the presentation of the wampum belt between the communities, the ongoing work to establish joint community economic development, the hiring of an Indigenous cultural advisor and policy advisor at city hall, and these are all steps towards reconciliation. It’s a journey that we’re travelling together and today reinforces the purpose and need for that journey,” Shoemaker said.
This year marked the first time the city and First Nations officials observed the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.
Shoemaker suggested the special day may be observed in future years at an even bigger venue such as GFL Memorial Gardens.
“There are lots of events going on for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I know there’s the candlelight vigil at Algoma University. There’s this event at the Pavilion. There are events elsewhere in the city.
“I know the schools have their own events as well. We’re not trying to take over anyone’s events by any means, but there may be a time when it makes sense to bring those events under one umbrella.”
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