The organizer of an annual Canada Day event northwest of Edmonton, a gathering that focuses on raising awareness about the history and impact of residential schools while promoting reconciliation, says it is getting more support than ever.
“There’s been so much support — right from the first year,” Amanda Patrick, who helped organize the fifth annual Run for Reconciliation in St. Albert, Alta., said on Tuesday.
“We gather every year (on) July 1 — on Canada Day — to honour the past before we celebrate the future.”
Patrick said the run has seen about 400 people take part each year, ever since the event was started in the wake of human remains being found using ground-penetrating radar searches near residential school sites. This year, Patrick said more than 500 people took part in the run, which began in St. Albert’s Lions Park and ended at the St. Albert Healing Garden.
“We walk and run in … remembrance of those who attended Canadian residential schools as survivors and those that live with intergenerational trauma,” she said.
“We gather to honour them.”
Many participants who took part in the walk or run wore orange shirts, the colour having become a symbol of reconciliation and showing respect for residential school survivors. Many people’s shirts had the words “every child matters” printed on them.
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“I’m very happy to be here today for this event and recognizing the people and the stories of this land that I live (on), love and grew up on,” James Rossmann told Global News when asked why he decided to take part. “I think that’s super important.”
Hazel McKennitt, a venerated teacher, community volunteer and activist in the Edmonton area, has been actively involved with the run since it began and was there on Tuesday.
McKennitt said she spent 10 years attending a residential school from the age of six until she was 16, and said she believes the impacts and legacy of residential schools are still very evident today.
“Child welfare is still an extension of residential school,” she said. “The trauma is still an extension of residential school, and it’s going to continue if we don’t tell the truth about residential schools and what happened.”
Patrick said that not only has the event seen more support each year, but the people who put it on are becoming “more and more organized,” and have started a non-profit organization called Kisakihikawin St. Albert.
The non-profit is raising money through the run this year for the Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centre, an Indigenous addiction treatment centre.
Patrick said the City of St. Albert has also been offering more and more support for the run each year.
“It’s become a staple in a lot of people’s lives for Canada Day,” she said. “We have a lot of participants who say this is part of their day now.
“I think events like this offer a space where participants can learn about reconciliation, be in a space where they can ask questions and not feel judged … walk away with more knowledge and understanding of how they can have reconciliation in their life and what they can do going forward.”
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