A large crowd gathered in downtown Fernie on Sept. 30 to see the Yaq’it a·knuqi ‘it flag flown permanently in front of City Hall for Truth and Reconciliation Day.
The flag was hoisted above the crowd by Yaq’it a·knuqi ‘it councillor Garrett Gravelle, as councillor Kyle Shottanana drummed an honour song.
Shottanana and Chief Heidi Gravelle and City of Fernie councillor Ted Shoesmith said a few words. Chief Gravelle mentioned that it's important to actively show support for residential school survivors and their descendants through everyday actions, and not just through government legislation and books.
"Today is the day of recognition that the truth happened, but it's also a day to understand the importance of working together, of living together, co-habitating together," said Chief Gravelle. "Reconciliation needs to be action-based. We've been asking for this through different legislations, through different acts and they're only as good as the action and actual feet on the ground and work happening that's put behind it, otherwise it's just a book , legislation, paper, collecting dust on a shelf."
"Working with the City of Fernie has been such a positive experience where there's been some action behind reconciliation," she added.
"Residential schools create trauma. They created fear. They created shame," she said. "Every Indigenous person that you know today has been impacted by a residential school, whether they went or not."
"We still have a lot of work when it comes to understanding the truth. We've only scraped the surface in allowing the truth to come out, so we insure that there's a safe space for that truth to be not only shared, but understood."
