‘Every step counts’: Runners raise awareness for residential school survivors on Canada Day

About 500 people took part in the fifth annual Reconciliation Run and Walk in St. Albert on July 1 to raise awareness about the impacts of residential schools.

A rippling sea of orange was seen in St. Albert Tuesday as over 500 people showed up to run and walk to raise awareness for residential school survivors.

The Run for Reconciliation began at the Lions Park at 9 a.m. on Canada Day and ended at the St. Albert Healing Garden – about a three to five kilometre stretch.

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Amanda Patrick, the founding organizer of the run, said the event is to honour and remember those impacted by residential schools.

“The reason we do it on Canada Day, and why we wear orange, is to say that we want to honour those residential school survivors, honour those children that never made it home, and honour the families that live with the intergenerational trauma,” said Patrick at Tuesday’s event.

“Canada Day is a good day to do it because we love this country and we want to celebrate it, but we also want to honour and remember the past.”

Patrick started the run in 2021 after the discovery of 215 potential unmarked graves at the Kamloops Residential School in B.C.

“I felt very impacted by that and wanted to do something,” said Patrick. “And then it turned into an annual event.”

Patrick said more and more people are participating year after year. In 2024, there were about 400 participants – today, the number climbed to over 500.

Orange ribbons were provided to participants to carry while they ran or walked along the route. After arriving at the Healing Garden, people tied their ribbons around gazebo posts, and some attached notes to them.

Hazel McKennitt, a 77-year-old residential school survivor has been coming to the run every year since its inception.

“It makes us stronger, it keeps us going,” said McKennitt, who went to a residential school in Manitoba from when she was 10 years-old to 16.

“Child welfare is still an extension of residential schools, the trauma is still an extension of residential schools, and it’s going to continue if we don’t tell the truth about residential schools,” said McKennitt.

This year the run raised funds for the Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centre in St. Albert. The centre is an Indigenous cultural and spiritual-based addiction and mental health treatment facility.

“A lot of the people that visit their organization have suffered from intergenerational trauma, and so we really wanted to bring the funds we raise home,” said Patrick.

In June, a fire damaged the treatment centre, temporarily displacing clients.

“The funds this year are needed even more than ever,” said Patrick.

Nearly $4,000 had been raised as of Tuesday afternoon, with more donations expected until the end of the day. Donations can be made here.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sean McClune.