Chef Irene Mangubat, Sankara co-founder Lily Lynch, and digital marketing coordinator Kyle Tomagan with meal boxes ready to be delivered. Image: submitted.
Across the country, millions of Canadians will be using September 30, which is National Day For Truth and Reconciliation, to reflect on the country’s painful history of residential schools and the harm it caused to Indigenous people.
It will also be a day to mourn the thousands of Indigenous children who died while attending these oppressive schools and were left buried in unmarked graves.
Even though this important day will be marked nationally, it was left up to each province to decide to make it a provincial holiday. Many, including Nova Scotia, did just that. But one notable exception was New Brunswick, whose provincial government under Premier Blaine Higgs opted against making it a holiday.
This caused widespread outrage among many in and outside the province. Quickly, a grassroots movement sprung up for the business community to take the lead where the province did not.
The Wabanaki & Allies Alliance Group wrote a powerful open letter, asking New Brunswick businesses to close their doors voluntarily on September 30.
“Wabanaki & Allies Alliance Group are asking businesses in the province of New Brunswick to stand in solidarity by shutting your doors on September 30th and to use this day to properly mourn the 6,509 children and counting that have been found in unmarked graves across this country… this country which has been built on the bones and the oppression of Indigenous people in an effort to eradicate treaty obligations,” reads the letter, in part.
“While Premier Blaine Higgs has talked a lot about reconciliation, he rejected an opportunity handed to him to partake in meaningful action.”
Lily Lynch is one of the Saint John businesspeople to voluntarily close their doors to mark the day. Lynch is the co-founder of Sankara, an online multicultural marketplace. She also has Indigenous roots, describing her ethnicity as white and Afro-Mi’kmaw.
Lynch is worried that, without recognition, the National Day For Truth And Reconciliation will be swept under the rug. She compares it to Remembrance Day, which everyone recognizes on November 11, but how the entire country pretty much ignores November 8, which is Indigenous Veterans Day.
“I think we’ve seen more business owners be vocal about their stance and about what their intentions are. It’s not just a matter of taking the day off and going to the ballfield and having a good time. It’s actually taking deliberate reflection,” says Lynch.
“I’m just pleading with people to not allow September 30th to be swept under the carpet.”
So far, the campaign for New Brunswick Businesses to close on September 30 has been effective. There is a public document online keeping track of the businesses that are closing. So far, it has hundreds of names
“I think that the businesses that are announcing they’re closing, it’s definitely a wonderful and personal decision that they’ve made, and I commend them, but we definitely have to make sure that we take it a step further and hold one another accountable…” says Lynch.
Lynch, like many others, also had some strong words for Premier Blaine Higgs for choosing not to make September 30 a holiday.
“When presented with an opportunity to actually make change and to take a stance that’s productive, and deciding not to, like Blaine Higgs has done, it just shows that he isn’t the leader that we thought that he should be,” she stated.
One of the Moncton businesses closing on Thursday is Off The Wall Eyewear Emporium, which has two locations in the city. Co-owner Steve Charlebois says, given Canada’s historic mistreatment of Indigenous people, it would have been wrong not to recognize the day.
“These people were wronged and it’s just not right not to take a stand with them on the fact they were wronged,” says Charlebois.
“Time to change. If our government’s not going to do it, that doesn’t stop us from still doing it.”
Much like Lynch, Charlebois had strong words for Premier Higgs.
“Blaine, sorry man, I don’t agree with you. This is wrong and you still should have closed everything down. It should be a Day of Reconciliation and remembrance of the things that have happened to people,” he said.
“It should have been national (recognition), it really should have been.”
Kateri Hibbert is the Director of Sixties Scoop Reconnection and Communications at Eastern Circle in Saint John. She helps those who were affected by the mass separation of Indigenous children from their homes and families decades ago.
Hibbert knows firsthand that Canada’s wrongs against Indigenous people aren’t just something from the past. Hibbert’s father was a victim of the Sixties Scoop, and she feels the effects to this day.
“There’s a severe lack of family ties and a severe lack of community,” says Hibbert. “To be visibly Indigenous and not have ties, and to have that by government design is uncomfortable, to say the least.”
She says having the country recognize the National Day For Truth And Reconciliation is an important step towards national healing and unity. While it’s frustrating that not everyone has chosen to recognize this day on September 30, she is focusing on those who have chosen to do so.
“It’s a first step forward. I think a lot of trauma and separation of families have been swept under the rug. And with the rediscovery of Indigenous children, it’s really difficult to avoid acknowledging that now,” says Hibbert.
“My biggest focus is on the people who are going to be there for us. And we’re seeing a lot of good feedback.”
Derek Montague is a reporter for Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
