The final day of September this year marked the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a new federal statutory holiday to honour children who died while attending residential schools in Canada, along with the survivors, families and communities still feeling the reverberations of that long-running system.
Here in Winnipeg, several events were held for citizens including a powwow, sacred fires and several rallies and marches.
I had the good fortune to photograph the main march, which began at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and ended at St. John’s Park. From start to end, there was a positivity in the air (even given the many hard and solemn stories to be told) and a real sense of solidarity. There was no mistake about why all were there and who they were there for.
It was also an ideal chance to meet someone or talk to someone you might not normally get the opportunity to. And a simple conversation is a terrific way to learn more.
I’ve always found photography is my ideal way to learn and connect with the world. For this, I was fortunate to experience this first annual event with my cameras. I sense a real shift in public attitudes and awareness, and I feel safe in saying the country is changing permanently from this process.
On a related note: if you or someone you know see yourself in my images, please reach out — I’d be happy to share them with you as a way of saying thanks. I asked each person portrayed here if I could photograph them, but in the rush of the event I didn’t get any contact information, as I normally do in case someone wants a copy of my work for themselves.
People attending a march in the inaugural Truth and Reconciliation Day stream through Winnipeg’s iconic Portage and Main intersection, Thursday afternoon.
People gathered for a march in the first Truth and Reconciliation Day in Winnipeg leave the city’s Human Rights Museum to the city’s downtown. Some held pictures of relatives or loved ones who attended Indian residential schools.
Riley Brown, an Oji-Cree woman from Manitou Rapids First Nation, wears a shawl adorned with handprints of her classmates at Urban Circle Training Centre. She told CBC News she was dancing in the march for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, residential school survivors and those who did not survive their time in the schools.
An elder smiles as she awaits the start of a march for this country’s inaugural Truth and Reconciliation Day, Thursday morning at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Thousands of people gathered at the Forks in the centre of the city for the start of a march, as part of Canada’s national Truth and Reconciliation Day. An orange shirt is a symbol of the issue of residential school survivors.
‘Every Child Matters’ is a slogan that has grown out of the increasing national awareness of the issue of residential schools in Canada.
Thousands of people await the start of a march while taking part in national Truth and Reconciliation Day events in Winnipeg, Thursday morning. They almost universally wore orange, making a striking sight as they walked together through the city.
A group of drummers make their way along North Main Street among thousands of others, on their way to a powwow at St. John’s Park, one of the original parks in the city and long a gathering place for First Nations and European people.
A participant in Thursday’s rally spreads her spirit to people sitting in front of the Main Street Project in Winnipeg.
A woman watching a procession for the first Truth and Reconciliation Day raises her arms as thousands of people walk past on North Main Street.
North Main Street, first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Winnipeg Manitoba.
The grand entry to a powwow held in St. John’s Park makes its way past a capacity crowd gathered for festivities at the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.
Young dancers join a long line of people of all kinds for the grand entry to a powwow held at the end of a march for Truth and Reconciliation Day in Winnipeg.