The chief of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc wants Canadians to continue to acknowledge Canada Day, calling it the best way to honour Canada and the diversity of people who live here.

“In particular this year [for] our future generations, [it is important] to understand our real collective history,” Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir said. “For TteS, we would like to encourage all to learn more about the colonial legacy of the residential school and the intergenerational impacts that it has had.”

“We also want people to understand the racism and discrimination that Indigenous Peoples face daily.”

In a statement, Casimir went on to say that part of what it means to be Canadian is to recognize mistakes and learn from the past. Her comments come three weeks after Tkemlups announced it has discovered the remains of 215 children at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

More details about those findings are expected by the end of the month.

“We cannot proceed to advance as a country without continuing to come together and talk and share experiences,” she added.

“Take this opportunity on Canada Day to do some research, watch some Indigenous movies, listen to APTN and most importantly, in your own way, honour all the lost children of the residential schools across Canada.

This year, the city of Kamloops will be working with Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on its virtual Canada Day event that will focus on Indigenous culture and heritage. COVID-19 public health restrictions mean the in-person event on July 1 has been cancelled for the second straight year.

“It was disappointing that we had to cancel the Canada Day celebration that we hold at Riverside Park every year,” Mayor Ken Christian told NL News.

“We had gone to a video proposal and that will be similar to last year, only this year we want to focus on issues related to Indigenous Peoples of this valley and we’ve done so in consort with Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir and her council.

Christian says there were never any plans to cancel Canada Day events in Kamloops this year, similar to what Victoria has done.

“I think Victoria has done what Victoria does because of reasons known only to them but in Kamloops, I think, this is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and really work to understand what happened and find out the truth and then from that truth, look to a form of reconciliation that will be unique to our valley,” he added.

“We feel this is an opportunity for learning. It is an opportunity to better understand the intricacies of reconciliation.”

As well, in honour of National Indigenous Month, Christian says the City will continue to light its facilities in orange while keeping all flags at half-staff until July 2.