'It takes everybody': Saskatoon students, staff walk for reconciliation
Students and staff from the Saskatoon campus of the First Nations University of Canada organized a walk for truth and reconciliation on Friday morning.
“We're walking in honour of all the Indigenous children who attended residential schools, those who didn't make it home, and also those who continue to be discovered,” said Daina Kary, vice-president of the student association on campus.
Dozens of people participated in the walk, which began at the campus and saw them reach Central Avenue before heading back.
One was professor Gilbert Kewistep, a survivor of the Muskowekwan residential school.
He says he hopes the walk can be a beacon of hope.
“For the young ones, and let them know that we can overcome. We can overcome. We all work together, and collectively we can make life better for everybody,” he said.
“I get emotional when I speak about my time in the residential schools, especially now having heard [about] the little ones that were found,” he said.
Kewistep was six when he arrived and he didn’t leave for four years.
“When I went, we were told not to go into certain places within the school that we were in and when this happened it brought back a lot of memories,” he said.
“Some hard times that I encountered, and that were done to us. I won't speak about it again, but very traumatic.”
'IT TAKES EVERYBODY'
Kary said she’s been honoured to have Kewistep as a professor.
“Just being in a class with him, hearing his truths — it's important for everybody hear the truth.”
Kary says in order for true reconciliation to occur, everyone will need to help.
“To be honest I don't know if I will see full reconciliation in my lifetime,” she said.
“It's definitely going to be a process, but it takes everybody to become a part of it, right? When you don't have everybody being a part, it's not going to be successful.”
Members of Truly Alive Youth & Family Foundation, an organization that provides support to visible minority and ethnic minority groups in Saskatoon, were among the group walking.
“It is very important for us to not only honor and improve our understanding of the Indigenous history, experience through stories, but also for us, as an organization and as individuals, to journey together to honour Indigenous children taken away but who never made it back home,” executive director Anthony Olusola said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
LIVE NOW Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
BUDGET 2024 Feds cutting 5,000 public service jobs, looking to turn underused buildings into housing
Five thousand public service jobs will be cut over the next four years, while underused federal office buildings, Canada Post properties and the National Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa could be turned into new housing units, as the federal government looks to find billions of dollars in savings and boost the country's housing portfolio.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
From housing initiatives to a disability benefit, how the federal budget impacts you
From plans to boost new housing stock, encourage small businesses, and increase taxes on Canada’s top-earners, CTVNews.ca has sifted through the 416-page budget to find out what will make the biggest difference to your pocketbook.
Liberals aim to hit the brakes on car theft with new criminal offences
The Liberals are proposing new charges for the use of violence while stealing a vehicle and for links to organized crime, as well as laundering money for the benefit of a criminal organization.
BUDGET 2024 Ottawa police get $50 million to boost security around Parliamentary Precinct
The Ottawa Police Service will receive $50 million in new federal funding over the next five years to "enhance security" around the Parliamentary Precinct.
Liberals to dole out five years worth of carbon rebates to businesses
Small- and medium-sized business owners are set to receive a long-awaited refund from Ottawa, which was holding onto billions of dollars while it sorted out a way to deliver them their carbon pricing rebates.
Feds offer $5B in Indigenous loan guarantees, fall $420B short on infrastructure asks
The federal government is providing up to $5 billion in loan guarantees to help Indigenous communities invest in natural resource and energy products. But when it comes to a promise to close what advocates say is a sprawling Indigenous infrastructure gap, Ottawa is short more than $420 billion.
Police to announce arrests in Toronto Pearson airport gold heist
Police say that arrests have been made in connection with a $20-million gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport one year ago.