An emotional day of storytelling, song and dance was at the epicentre of Squamish's first observance of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
On Sept. 30, at 1 p.m., crowd gathered at the clock on Cleveland Avenue and made a solemn procession toward O'Siyam Pavilion.
A sea of orange shirts — a display of solidarity with Indigenous people — swept through downtown amidst drumming and song.
At O'Siyam, elders and other survivors told stories of their experience with racism and Canada's residential school system, which aimed to eradicate Indigenous culture through a brutal system of forced assimilation.
Songs and dances followed, and everyone in the crowd of hundreds— which packed the park shoulder-to-shoulder — were encouraged to join in.
