A K’jipuktuk (Halifax)-area author and activist is calling for the cancellation of Canada Day celebrations, and a growing list of New Brunswick communities are doing just that in response to recent unmarked grave discoveries at sites of former residential schools.
Bathurst, Saint John and Fredericton announced cancellations Thursday, the same day the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced an estimated 751 unmarked graves have been uncovered at the at the site of the former Marieval residential school, east of Regina.
“There were 139 residential schools in Canada at one point in time and I think we’ve searched 5, 6, maybe? And we’re already at over 1000 unmarked graves that we’ve found between all of those,” says Rebecca Thomas, Halifax’s former poet laureate and an Indigenous Supports Advisor at Nova Scotia Community College.
“These were kids who were killed when they went to residential school, they were killed by a system, they were killed by a church, they were killed by individuals,” Thomas says.
“I’m heartbroken, but not surprised at all,” she says.
The Village of Cap-Pelé might’ve been the first municipality in the province to announce it was cancelling July 1 festivities this year, but New Maryland and Rogersville have also called off plans.
“We know that there are many reasons to celebrate Canada’s great successes, but this year, we think it is more important than ever to pause, educate ourselves and reflect on darker times in the history of our country,” the village said in a Facebook post Monday. “Over the years, we have made progress, but even today, Indigenous peoples face systemic injustices.”
The village says Indigenous people have long been great allies to the Acadian population and now it’s time for Acadians to “be there” for the Indigenous community.
Thomas says she feels “a deep sense of shame” and wants “respect and humility from this country” on July 1.
“Imagine throwing a birthday party for somebody knowing they just committed a horrendous act to somebody’s kid, and then throw them a birthday party,” she says. “It’s absurd and it’s inappropriate.”
Paul Wentzell, Fredericton’s Canada Day volunteer committee co-chair, says the cancellation in that city was due to several factors, including COVID-19 restrictions, but “with what’s going on in the Indigenous communities and the terrible revelations, all those factors combined, we just decided instead this year, the best way to do it is to have a quiet and reflective day on Canada Day.”
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