Frankly Speaking

Frank Bucholtz photo Michael Kelly Gabriel of the Kwantlen First Nation speaks with guest speaker Wab Kinew at the Langley Truth and Reconciliation event on Saturday. The Truth and Reconciliation events in Langley over the weekend were powerful and groundbreaking. Former school trustee Cecelia Reekie spearheaded the event, with help from a very active committee, known as Working Toward Reconciliation. What really made it work so well was the active participation from the Kwantlen, Katzie and Matsqui First Nations. Reekie's own story , as a First Nations woman who only became aware of her aboriginal background as an adult (she was adopted as a baby by a Caucasian couple), is a significant reason this event happened. She has since forged a close relationship with her First Nations birth father, Cecil, who came down from Kitimat to attend the event. I had a chance to talk with him and found out a bit of his story. He is part of a very small nation that is now part of the Hai...

Truth and reconciliation is coming to Langley this weekend - and hopefully it will come to many more communities across Canada. Former Langley school trustee Cecelia Reekie, who is part of the Haisla First Nation, is spearheading an event at Yorkson Creek Middle School which will feature as guest speaker Wab Kinew, who has been a living example of the power of reconciliation, both in his own family and in his work as a broadcaster and filmmaker. His book "The Reason You Walk" provides a large number of examples of the brokenness and damage caused by past Canadian policies towards First Nations people. It also details; how his family has coped with the ever-present damage caused by residential schools, broken relationships, lost aboriginal languages, physical and sexual abuse and many other things. It makes clear how the dysfunction caused by the forced removal of children from their families continues through the generations - but it also offers a great deal of hope. Langle...