'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
There are renewed calls to cancel the Canada Day holiday this year, as Canadians grapple with the recent discovery of an unmarked burial site at a former residential school in B.C.
The hashtag #CancelCanadaDay is gaining traction on social media with many arguing it should be a day to reflect on the injustices inflicted on Indigenous Peoples, including the lives lost at residential schools.
Beyond a hashtag, protests planned by Indigenous rights group Idle No More are set to take place in Vancouver and several Ontario regions on July 1.
“The recent discovery at Kamloops residential school has reminded us that Canada remains a country that has built its foundation on the erasure and genocide of Indigenous nations, including children. We refuse to sit idle while Canada’s violent history is celebrated,” reads the group's Facebook event page.
On May 28, the remains of 215 children were found at the site of the Kamloops school formerly run by the Catholic Church. Since then, there have been calls by First Nations leaders, human rights advocates, and opposition politicians for accountability and support from all levels of government as well as cooperation by the church to find answers.
Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair Murray Sinclair has warned that there will likely be similar discoveries as searches continue at other former school sites.
Supporters of the push to cancel Canada Day would instead like to see a national day of mourning for those who died while attending one of the 139 schools across the country.
One event page titled “#HaltTransCanada for our stolen & murdered children” asks people to join the Anishinabek Nation in a 5-hour protest on July 1, to block the TransCanada highway “one hour for every hundred years of occupation, colonization and resistance from our people.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was asked by reporters Monday whether he supports cancelling Canada Day celebrations this year.
“I believe every single day that we need to focus on reconciliation, that reconciliation has to be a priority,” he said, before pointing blame at the federal government for inaction on this file.
“The Liberal government has said a lot, has said a lot of words and has not followed those words up with action and in doing so has hurt the Indigenous community. Your hopes are built up, you’re optimistic for the future, only for those hopes to come crashing down.”
Similar protests were planned last year following instances of police brutality against Indigenous communities, protests by the Wet’suwet’en Nation against pipelines, and accusations of systemic racism in health-care system in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, the statue of Egerton Ryerson was toppled on the campus of Ryerson University in Toronto after days of being vandalized following the news out of Kamloops.
The statue has long been a source of contention, as Ryerson was known as one of the key architects of the residential school system.
With a file from CTV News' Nicole Bogart.
---
If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.