Tk’emlúps chief Rosanne Casimir standing at the Pow-wow Grounds on Sept. 30, 2021, the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (Photo by Colton Davies)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is vacationing with his family in Tofino on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, his office has confirmed.
In a statement, PMO press secretary Ann-Clara Vaillancourt says Trudeau took part in a ceremony last night to mark the new national holiday today, adding that despite his vacation, the Prime Minister would be speaking with residential school survivors from across the country today.
Trudeau’s itinerary also had no mention of his vacation, which instead said he would be in Ottawa today for “personal meetings” though that has since been updated.
In late May, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc sent shockwaves across the country when it announced that, through ground penetrating radar, it had found what are believed to be unmarked graves of 215 former students who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, dozens of other bands have announced similar findings.
“We did extend two written invitations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to come and attend and to also visit our community [today],” Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir told reporters Thursday morning, adding she had been “holding out hope” that Trudeau would accept the invitation.
“But I do know that moving forward it’s really important that he truly upholds… the guiding principles of working with us as First Nations.’
With Tk’emlúps being essentially ground zero for developments this year in unmarked graves, and discussions of the history of residential schools, the band has been commemorating the event all day today, and has live-streamed all of it on its website.
With confirmation this afternoon of Trudeau’s vacation on the symbolic holiday, NL News has reached out to Casimir and the band for further comment on the situation.
On its Twitter profile, Tk’emlúps shared a Global News story about the Prime Minister’s holiday with a hashtag of “wreckonciliation.” The account also shared a Tweet from CFJC Today reporter Adam Donnelly, saying the vacation plan showed “shockingly bad judgement from the PMO.”
– with a file from Marcella Bernardo
