‘The time for apologies has long passed, and the time for action is upon us’: Hiawatha First Nation Chief Carr – Peterborough Examiner

Aug. 4, 2021

“We knew they were there; the survivors told us,” Hiawatha First Nation Chief Laurie Carr told the crowd gathered in front of Peterborough City Hall Tuesday, of the young souls lost to the residential school system in Canada.

On Aug. 3, the 215th day of the year, more than 250 people gathered to acknowledge the 215 children discovered buried at a residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. in May. The shock and horror was only just beginning, as in the following months discoveries at multiple residential schools have brought the death count beyond 3,000.

“The truth is hard; it can be ugly at times, but it is our truth and we have to wear it,” Otonabee South Monaghan Mayor Joe Taylor told the crowd.

The sheer scale of the atrocities perpetrated against First Nation people, and the ripple effect on the generations that have come after, can no longer be denied, adds Curve Lake First Nation’s Arnold Taylor, who is also a residential school and Sixties Scoop survivor.

Read More: https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/local-peterborough/news/2021/08/04/the-time-for-apologies-has-long-passed-and-the-time-for-action-is-upon-us-hiawatha-first-nation-chief-carr.html