Mayor’s Statement on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Posted on Thursday September 30, 2021

Today we wear orange in honour of Phyllis Webstad and to signal that every child matters.

Collectively, we all must learn about and acknowledge the atrocities of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people. These are atrocities that have been hidden for far too many years. 

The painful truth is that the residential school system was part of an intentional genocide against Indigenous people. 

Learning and speaking the truth is the first step toward truth and reconciliation.

Today, we wear orange and we lower our flags for the stolen children and lost childhoods, for the culture and language lost, and for the trauma inflicted by settlers.

We wear orange to honour the survivors.

As we continue to discover the remains of children who did not survive, we must remember this is a system many others had to endure and continue to recover from.

While residential schools are now in the past, it’s not a distant past. The effects will be felt for generations to come.

We must seek the truth as we work through truth and reconciliation. We cannot skip to reconciliation without accountability and action.

Today, listen, learn and reflect.

 

- Mayor Kathryn McGarry, City of Cambridge