My Dear Friends and Readers:
Today Canada marks "its second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a time to commemorate children who died while being forced to attend church-run and government-funded residential schools, those who survived and made it home, their families and communities still affected by the lasting trauma.
But despite the goal of the day, there is evidence that it's not necessarily clear to all Canadians exactly what the day is for or how it can be best used to advance reconciliation."
-- CBC's Unreserved, September 24: Why the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation isn't just another statutory holiday: "The gravity of the day isn't really understood or acknowledged," says Eva Jewell, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and research director at the Yellowhead Institute.
The answer is plain and simple:
One way of posing the "question of who Canadians are" ... is by asking whose lives are considered valuable, whose lives are mourned, and "whose lives are considered un-grievable."
-- paraphrasing Judith Bulter
For example, the non-stop Queen coverage had consumed the Canadian media, overshadowing the news conference of James Cree First Nation, regarding a stabbing rampage that left 10 people dead and 18 others injured.
edge of the reserve
a policeman’s voice fills
the gaps in her wailing
I would like to share with you some of my "truth and reconciliation" poems published over past two years, hoping that some of you will write your own.
alone, she stares
through a half-open door ...
the EXIT sign
lights the priest's face
and a naked boy, bent over
PoemHunter, July 6 2021
751
unmarked children's graves
found in summer heat ...
another report on racism
waiting to to be written
NeverEnding Story, June 25 2021
in the spotlight
the PM's blah, blah, blah speech
on hard truths
a sea of orange shirts
marching to Parliament Hill
NeverEnding Story, September 30 2021
Orange Shirt Day
an Elder's ten-year-old self
sobs into the dark
NeverEnding Story, September 30 2021
feathered headdresses
carved walrus tusks and masks
gathering dust
in the Vatican's storage room ...
Pope's "apology" tour starts
NeverEnding Story, July 25, 2022
the Pope
in a wheelchair guarded
by four men ...
face to face with survivors
in manual wheelchairs
NeverEnding Story, July 25, 2022
the Pope preaching,
God calls us to love others...
women hold the banner
with "RESCIND THE DOCTRINE"
facing the congregation
NeverEnding Story, July 25, 2022
Chen-ou
FYI: CBC News, September 30: Progress on the 94 calls to actions outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, released in 2015, is moving slower than many had hoped. Today, only about 10 per cent of those calls have been fully answered.
