it’s been a year

this time last year i was preparing to get on a chartered plane heading to Cartwright with the Premier and his entourage for the province’s first public apology for their part in the residential school system. why was I there, you ask? i was the one behind the camera live-streaming it for NunatuKavummiut, and I read a deeply personal letter aloud to the premier on behalf of one of the survivors. it was a really challenging but moving day for everyone present.

and then i came home, same flight, and spent time at the hospital with jeffrey’s grandma (grandma..) as she spent her last hours, only to pass that evening, on the national day for truth and reconciliation. a day that was meant to honour people like her – residential school survivors. some like to say residential school ‘students’ because everyone’s experiences are different – but she was no doubt a survivor.

i can’t speak much more on this topic, except to say that i hope you take a moment today to think about how privileged we are to live in a world where erasing someone’s Indigeneity is no longer acceptable. there’s still a long way to go, but the path is there.

M.