Canada has announced investments totaling more than $4 million to support 278 first nation community projects all across the country.
The money will also fund two major national projects: a national commemorative gathering on September 30 for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and an educational program week for students in the country.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau helped raise the flag the Survivors’ Flag on Parliament Hill. This flag will fly in memory of the 150,000 Indigenous children who were forcibly separated from their families and communities to be sent to residential schools.
“At the centre of the flag, you can see the children, and their families. It’s important that we remember those families who were ripped apart. With the identification of unmarked burial sites across the country, the pain, has resurfaced for so many. We are here for you,” he said.
Trudeau called residential schools a shameful part of our history, but the Survivors’ Flag will remind everyone on Parliament Hill every day.
“Reconciliation is about each and every one of us who live on this land who are accountable to the generations that came before and responsible for the generations still to come,” he added.
The orange and white Survivors’ Flag features nine distinct elements, each with a special meaning. For example, the seeds depicted underneath the family and children represent the spirits of the children who never returned home.
A statement from the federal government said the residential school system in Canada robbed Indigenous children of their childhoods. It attempted to assimilate them, forcing them to abandon their languages, cultures, spiritualities, traditions, and identities. Many suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and many never returned home. The painful legacy of the residential school system lives on today for Indigenous Peoples from coast to coast to coast.
