Manitobans reimagine Canada Day celebrations in wake of residential school revelations
Gatherings in Winnipeg, Selkirk, focus on understanding history, building community
Rather than awash in red and white, on July 1, 2021, Winnipeg's downtown core was full of orange worn by thousands of marchers following the discovery of what are believed to be unmarked burial sites on the grounds of former residential schools.
At a rally following the march, a statue of Queen Victoria was toppled.
It wasn't the usual Canada Day by any stretch.
One year later, the idea of celebrating Canada Day with pomp and circumstance has come under scrutiny, particularly in Winnipeg. The city is reimagining the traditional party — and facing backlash for the choice.
It's a sensitive topic that Mary Jane Logan McCallum, a University of Winnipeg history professor from Munsee Delaware Nation, is weighing herself.
"We are in a moment where I think there's a bit of a struggle over what the meaning of the flag is, what Canada is, and then also what Canada Day is," she said.
Last year, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that what may be hundreds of burials were found near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. Searches with ground-penetrating radar continued in other provinces, including Manitoba, and challenged many people's understanding of Canadian history.
"I think for a long time those kinds of celebrations maybe have been stifling for Indigenous people, for people of colour who have complicated histories with the Canadian state that aren't always kind of straightforward celebratory," McCallum said.
The Forks, a meeting place for thousands of years in the city with the largest Indigenous population in Canada, is trying to change that. After months of Indigenous-led roundtable discussions, The Forks recast its Canada Day festivities into an inclusive celebration of multiculturalism it's calling A New Day.
Not cancelled
The idea was praised in some circles, with The Forks credited for putting reconciliation in action.
A backlash also immediately spread across social media and editorial pages in Winnipeg and beyond, including claims The Forks was trying to cancel Canada Day.
Last week, the board of directors at The Forks responded with a defence of the celebration. This statement made numerous references to Canada Day, and the board said management "never intended to minimize or eliminate the idea of Canada Day."
The City of Selkirk decided to mark Canada Day differently.
Vanessa Figus, marketing and communications co-ordinator at the city, said the reckoning over the legacy of residential schools prompted Selkirk to consult with Indigenous community groups and an elder to create a new, respectful Canada Day celebration.
She said the city will incorporate several educational components, ranging from an Indigenous-themed scavenger hunt to a storybook walk about residential schools, into its event.
"We are going to be seeing this Canada Day as an opportunity to reflect on where Canada has been, but looking forward to where Canada is going."
'Recognize our past mistakes'
Sharif Islam, president of the Canada-Bangladesh Association of Manitoba, is a proud booster of the country he's lived in for 15 years.
"To me, Canada is a wonderful, wonderful country. It's an amazing country," he said.
It "promotes multiculturalism. It promotes and protects human rights, fairness and justice."
But Islam has also reflected on the horrors of residential schools and policies that supported them, which he condemns.
"Evil is evil," he said, "but the good part is we realize today, we say it loud today and we are taking actions.
"Canada is great because this is a soil, this is a country that allows us to recognize our past mistakes and don't make that mistake again in the future."
His association will host a Canada Day celebration on Friday from 4-7 p.m. at Kirkbridge Park, complete with cake, bouncy castles, face painting and refreshments.
Projesh Kumar, who arrived from Bangladesh five years ago, is helping to organize the party.
He came to Canada for better opportunities, and he's fond of the country.
"Canada still means the diversity and unity in people, the love, the welcomeness and the warmness that we get coming here," Kumar said.
"I think we should celebrate Canada Day, but we should also not forget the wrongs that has been done in the past and we should not repeat that mistake again."
Still a new holiday
Canada Day as we know it is a fairly new holiday. For more than a century, it was known as Dominion Day, "an overt celebration of British imperialism and Canada's connection to the British empire," said Sean Carleton, assistant professor in the History and Indigenous Studies departments at the University of Manitoba.
In 1982, the day became known as Canada Day.
"It was embracing a more nationalistic approach to the celebration of Confederation," Carleton said.
"Rather than being constantly wedded to things that we thought in the past, commemorations and public celebrations are always best when they reflect where people are trying to go, the kinds of things they're trying to do and the vision they have for what relations between different people could be like today."
He applauds The Forks for playing a leading role in reflecting and challenging the ways Canadian identity is presented.
Carleton said people can make up their own mind in how they want to connect with their country, but he encourages people to talk about it with others.
"I think this is an opportunity to learn and listen and perhaps reflect on what those kinds of overly nationalistic celebrations feel like to people that you were supposed to be in treaty with, that you are supposed to be in direct relationship with."
McCallum, a history professor herself, said she's looking toward Canada Day with a new sense of optimism.
"I think what I'm going to be celebrating is the sense that I'm feeling that there's actually change afoot," she said.
"Now it seems to me to be involving Indigenous people, consulting Indigenous people and building relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people."
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