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Hundreds of people were decked out in orange on Friday morning in Saskatoon as they took part in the Rock Your Roots — Walk for Reconciliation.
Wearing orange is symbolic of reconciliation, residential school survivors and those who did not return home, recognizing the harmful impact on Indigenous people and communities.
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The walk was scheduled for a day earlier than National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 to allow schools to join and have more people get involved.
Hundreds of people wore orange in Saskatoon on Friday as they took part in the Rock Your Roots — Walk for Reconciliation ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day on Saturday. (Shane Clausing/650 CKOM)
John Dreaver from Little Red River Reserve, just north of Prince Albert, was dancing in his regalia as he celebrated the day’s events.
Dreaver said he was surprised to see so many people taking part.
“I came by here I think four years ago and it was a very small walk. Today, I danced for about an hour and a half,” Dreaver said.
“Overall, it was a great feeling to see everyone coming by getting to experience my culture. It’s amazing just to see how far the Indigenous culture has taken off over the over the period.”
Neal Kewistep helped organize the walk in previous years and this year was participating to honour his father Gilbert.
He said he was happy to celebrate the day in Gilbert’s memory and it was important for him to see so many people from different walks of life participating.
“I think the most important thing is that we’re actually demonstrating (is) we’re walking with all these young people here today,” Kewistep said.
“I think it just shows what’s on the horizon for our community in the future, that we’ve got all these people … spreading the awareness as far as the celebration of a new season, as well as the celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day.”
T.J. Zwarych and his friend Kat MacLean were taking part in the walk together, along with Zwarych’s daughter Natasha, who is Métis.
Zwarych said he felt it was important to take his daughter on the walk.
“I feel like … over the last few years in Saskatoon, events like this have gotten bigger and bigger, and the community seems a lot more interested in moving forward with reconciliation and promoting events like this,” Zwarych said.
“I hope there’s actually a bigger discussion as to why we still have to do things like this. Because unfortunately, people like to say, ‘Oh, it’s all in the past, it’s all history, but there’s still so much work to be done’,” MacLean said.
“I hope that kids are starting to understand that and learn that from a young age there’s certain things that need to be done in ways that we need to to move forward.”
Kewistep said he thinks the walk and the reconciliation journey is going to continue to grow.
“Since I last participated in the walk, it looks like it is still standing very strong. It’s exciting to see that there’s so many more new faces that have joined along,” he said.
“I look forward to continuing the journey together and continuing to celebrate the beautiful day.”
— with files from CKOM News
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