Reconciling for Wenjack

What comes first, the charitable efforts, or the federal day off?

That's a question that recently popped into my head, as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation approaches, hot on the heels of the Walk for Wenjack.

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If you're not familiar, the Walk is a fundraiser to literally "build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation." I'm walking this year, and I hope to raise or inspire a few dollars worth of donations as well. Because it's grassroots movements that make change. Always. If you examine cultural movements throughout history, especially in the west, is made by the people, not the government.

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The Federal holiday, I think, is a nice gesture, but remains a curiosity for me, namely because any bureaucratic efforts on the government's part move at a snail's pace in a February blizzard - when it comes to actually making reparations or passing laws that benefit the indigenous groups who have suffered a lot by governmental decree.

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Personally, I think it's questionable, I think a lot of awareness days have a history of essentially preaching to the choir rather than converting the unsure or naysayers. It also feels with governments that they do things more for appearance or to placate the people. There's also the issue of a lot of fundraising efforts not really reaching a conclusion or a cure (say, as with cancer research).

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Compare this with the Walk for Wenjack, which despite having no control over school boards, is focused on awareness and education, as much as they are actualizing difference.

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But when you get down to what really matters, this isn't about me or what I personally like. I'm not the primary target for a day like this. And the people who are impacted do seem to think that it's doing good things. It's calling attention to the downtrodden people; to the horrible parts of Canada's history concerning the residential schools and general robbery (my words, not theirs) of the indigenous people regarding their land, goods and cultures.

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It also calls out all of those nameless children that were discovered last summer, and has turned a grassroots movement into a federally supported one.

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Despite my misgivings though, the two go hand in hand. Both in the sense that many Walkers leverage the orange shirts and they both have similar aims.

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If you're looking for some interesting, independent Indigenous media, check out Night Raiders, or Blood Quantum. They're both quite thought provoking in a different way from Indian Horse, and haven't gotten as much media attention.

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What do you think? Is this holiday valuable? Is the government doing enough? Are we on the right path? Is reconciliation achievable?

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As always please comment below!