Qalipu Lead Cultural and Outreach officer talks about what's needed for reconciliation

Paul Pike says residential school survivors across the country have been trying to share their stories about what happened for generations but unfortunately some people have not been listening, and to get reconciliation we need to get to the truth for some form of justice.

Many people showed up at the Majestic Lawn in Corner Brook on Tuesday to honour residential school survivors during National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Paul Pike is the Lead Cultural and Outreach officer with Qalipu First Nation. He says residential school survivors across the country have been trying to share their stories about what happened for generations but unfortunately some people have not been listening and to get reconciliation we need to get to the truth for some form of justice.

Pike says by allowing space for residential school survivors and their generations to talk about their experiences creates a good foundation and a way to move forward.  He says Chief Justice Murray Sinclair was part of the United Nations Rights of Indigenous Peoples Commission which identified the 94 calls for action and Canada has agreed to implement it but there’s a way to go. Only 14 or 15 calls to action have been completed and Pike says it will probably be 2081 before they are all in place. He says while the non-Indigenous community wants to be involved, they often don’t know how, so hopefully these conversations will happen. Pike says they are offering Indigenous language in schools but in some parts of the country, communities have water issues and have been on boil orders for 40-50 years, and this is affecting Indigenous communities.

Pike was speaking on this week’s edition of Bayfm’s “Qalipu Today.”