Hundreds of residential school survivors, along with their friends, family and supporters, marched through Ottawa on Sunday in the name of reconciliation and healing.
More than 5,000 people travelled under grey skies along a five-kilometre route from Ecole secondaire de L’Ile in Gatineau, Que., across the Ottawa River, past Parliament Hill, ending at Ottawa’s City Hall.
The walk marked the beginning of the Truth and Reconciliation closing events in Ottawa. The commission, which was launched in 2008 under a five-year mandate, will release its final report in Ottawa on Tuesday.
"It's a historical event," said Carrie Diabo, whose parents attended a day school on a reserve in Kahnawake, Que. "It’s something you’ll never see again and it’s part of the healing."
Led by drummers, the marchers carried banners and flags. Some held photos of loved ones who had experienced the schools, and other clasped the hands of children or grandchildren.
Richard Mark, a residential school survivor, walked with his grandson, Willow Katapatuk, on his shoulders.
Mark said he wanted to participate in the five-kilometre walk "to get the truth out."
As a child, Mark said he attended a residential school in northern Quebec for nine years, from age three until the school was shut down when he was 12. During that time, he said he suffered sexual, mental and spiritual abuse.
"For six years of my life, I was tormented," Mark said. "I'm looking for healing."
Since the 19th century, more than 150,000 First Nations children in Canada were forced to leave their families and attend residential schools, where many faced abuse and neglect.
Justice Murray Sinclair, the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, estimates as many as 6,000 children died at the schools, and countless others suffered physical and emotional trauma. The last school closed in 1996.
In a speech last week, Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said the acts amounted to a "cultural genocide."
Speaking during Sunday’s march, Mark said he believes reconciliation is possible, even after his own experience with abuse. He hopes to one day face his abuser and find peace.
Gesturing to his grandson, Mark said, "He’s the reason I’m here."
Andrew Daniels told CTV Ottawa that he too has been haunted by his experience in the residential school system.
"There a lot of things that are still affecting me when I talk about them," Daniels said, adding "it was tough, it was hard.”
Some marchers called for efforts to re-invigorate aboriginal culture. In many residential schools, students were prohibited from speaking their own language or practising their own faiths.
"There has to be a renewed commitment towards support aboriginal culture, heritage and language to make up for the losses that occurred," marcher John Moses said.
March attendees say the event, and the release of the report on Tuesday, will help soothe some of the psychological and emotional torments of those who were affected.
"It's bringing awareness and education to Canada and this is part our reconciliation too," said Janet Head, who participated in the Ottawa march. "It's going to help to … finally heal.”
Chief Robert Joseph, an ambassador for Reconciliation Canada, said that the march is symbolic of the country coming to terms with its history.
"This march is a huge demonstration of support from all Canadians to the idea of reconciliation," Joseph said. "That it is time (that) as a society we move forward together in a new way.”
Advocates also walked in Toronto on Sunday, before travelling by bus to Ottawa for TRC events next week.
"I think the goal of today is to really say to the survivors and to first nations communities across the country that we are listening and we have heard and we are awaiting that report on Tuesday," Irwin Elman, an advocate for Children and Youth of Ontario, told CTV’s News Channel.
"It’s a moment of opportunity for the country as a whole to join with First Nations people to listen and make change."
While Tuesday's TRC recommendations are not binding, demonstrators on Sunday said the most important thing is that there is a continued effort to improve relations between the federal government and First Nations, and to educate Canadians about residential schools.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Annie Bergeron-Oliver
