YORKTON - While we mark many days throughout the year, a few stand out as perhaps a bit more important for our annual consideration – Remembrance Day, Canada Day, and the upcoming National Indigenous Peoples Day – among those.
National Indigenous Peoples Day takes place on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year – Saturday this year, marking the many First Nations who were here generations before the first European arrived.
“For generations, many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities have celebrated their cultures, languages, and traditions at this time of year. The summer solstice holds deep spiritual and cultural significance for many Indigenous Peoples, marking a time of renewal, connection, and celebration,” noted a Government of Canada website.
It is important we as a nation celebrate the contributions of First Nations, and remember too that this is a land we came too which was already inhabited by vibrant cultures, and we need to appreciate their history is important.
It is a culture and history which was nearly lost through the efforts of European immigration many of those efforts – residential schools leading the list -- leaving scars which are still sadly evident today.
We as a nation are still in the early stages of reconciliation to finally grow beyond the hard feelings and hurt of those past repressive policies, and a day such as the one being hosted by the Yorkton Tribal Council in Yorkton is one small part of that process.
It is an opportunity to better appreciate First Nations culture and to build bridges – essentially getting to know one another better so that we can move forward as a united nation to make Canada a better country than it is, or has been.
We have much to be proud of in Canada, but how we as a nation have dealt with the First Nations who were here first is not something to be proud of. It is in fact a very black mark on our history, and one we still need to fully deal with.
Thankfully, it’s not too late to come to terms with the mistakes of the past.
We even have a blueprint to aid the process in the treaties signed so many years ago.
We just need to do a better job of honouring those deals, and in learning to accept each other.
Canada is at its strongest when it builds on the varied cultures which exist here, and the First Nations are the foundation of that having been here first. We just need to be better at remembering that and building on that core strength as a nation.
