Day Of Reflection Not Celebration
Mark Leger is the editor and part-owner of Huddle. This is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts and business news in the region. It’s published first as a Saturday morning newsletter – sign up and receive our free daily newsletter as well.
On Canada Day every year, several families come to our cottage on the Wolastoq (Saint John River) to celebrate. We barbecue, play games, swim and finish the day with a parade down a dirt road with several other cottages. Most people wear red clothing, carry noisemakers, and play instruments. At each cottage, we stop and sing “O Canada” and finish with a group picture at the end of the road. It’s a tradition that the kids (and the adults) look forward to every year.
After the discovery in late May of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves on the site of the former Kamloops residential school, a couple of our friends expressed misgivings about the Canada Day celebration this year. My wife Janet and I talked about their concerns, ones we shared, and we put a note on a private Facebook page for the group that read, in part:
“I know many people are struggling with Canada Day this year, in particular when there are parts of our past that we have yet to reconcile, and a new level of awareness and emotion makes it difficult to celebrate the occasion. We welcome people to come as they are, wear what they want to wear, and if people would like to use July 1st as an opportunity to educate and acknowledge, your ideas are welcome.”
At the time, we decided to go ahead with the parade, as more of a celebration of the beginning of summer and the coming together of friends.
Then came the discovery earlier this week of 751 unmarked graves near a former residential school in Saskatchewan.
In the hours after the first news reports, many New Brunswick communities cancelled their Canada Day celebrations: Cap-Pelé, New Maryland, Rogersville, Rothesay, Quispamsis, Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton.
Paul Wentzell, the co-chair of the Fredericton Canada Day Committee, said there were many reasons, including the pandemic, to cancel celebrations this year. But he said it was the right thing to do with the horrific discoveries in B.C. and now Saskatchewan.
“Given the situation regarding our Indigenous communities, a quiet day of reflection may be the best way for our community to spend the holiday,” Wentzell said in a statement.
I realize this is a relatively small gesture of respect and acknowledgement, but we’re not going to hold our parade either. We explained it to the kids Friday morning. We think they understand that celebrations like our little parade – which is not really a patriotic act, it’s more something we do for fun – are inappropriate as we learn more about the cruel and disrespectful treatment of children and families in the residential school system.
I must admit I struggle with these symbolic gestures, though not the cancellation of Canada Day celebrations themselves or the land acknowledgements that have become more commonplace at public events, which I wrote about in a column two weeks ago. I support them as important first steps.
Related: Building Toward Reconciliation
Rather, I worry that we don’t bring about real and lasting change for Indigenous people because the solutions are complex and require true sacrifice – the relinquishment of power, land, resources and money.
On this week’s Huddle “Insights” podcast, David Campbell interviews former premier Brian Gallant about growing the economy of New Brunswick. They talk about the importance of immigration and economic development in rural areas and the northern part of the province. They also talk about reconciliation and the role of Indigenous communities moving forward.
Gallant says his government made progress, signing agreements around revenue sharing, education and training, employment opportunities and environmental protection.
Podcast: Brian Gallant On Immigration, Northern N.B. And True Reconciliation
“But even if I’m proud of what we were able to do…we weren’t able to do everything that was needed and no government will, but there has to be a clear determination and effort to continuously move the needle and get better and do more,” says Gallant, who is currently the CEO of the Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation.
“We need to continuously ask ourselves what mistakes were made, what mistakes are still being made, and how do we rectify [them], how do we start the long and important process of reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada.”
Even if incremental progress is being made, and sincere efforts at reconciliation are ongoing, now is not the time to celebrate the founding of a nation that has so cruelly and unjustly treated people who lived here for centuries before Europeans even set foot on this soil.
“It’s the right move to cancel Canada Day celebrations,” wrote New Brunswicker Mara Mallory on Twitter. “902+ unmarked graves, thousands without clean drinking water or adequate housing, unmitigated systemic racism…. We need to change our relationship with First Nations, starting with some deep reflection on Canada Day.”
We live in a diverse country with people from many cultures and have a bright future if we can address these past and present mistakes. Through education and awareness, and meaningful actions we can get there, but it will take time.
We can bring back the fireworks and parades next year if there is something to celebrate.
Feedback? E-mail: [email protected].
Banner photo: Canada Day, 2019. Image: Mark Leger.