“If your neighbour was having a funeral, especially a funeral for a child, you wouldn’t go off celebrating it and putting off fireworks, because that's extremely disrespectful,” said Maura Winkup, who co-organized the event with Hannah Geauvreau-Turner and and Desiree Fekete.
The Thursday march, Cancel Canada Day: Solidarity with Indigenous People, urges the community to gather and remember the atrocities of the residential school system in the wake of the recent findings across Canada.
“This was genocide and people are finally starting to listen and acknowledge that it was actually a genocide and that it actually happened and that can't be celebrated right now. Our whole community is in mourning and it's time to honour these children” said Winkup.
“We feel right now with the recent discoveries, and also the fact that we're actually being listened to and that we're actually being given a bit of a platform, that it's really important to raise Indigenous voices right now and put them at the forefront of discussion."
Speeches will take place at the starting point, the steps of Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, at 2 p.m. The march will then head toward Macdonell Street, down Wellington Street and circle back to Guelph City Hall. The organizers are urging attendees to not bring any Canadian flags.
Winkup said beginning kicking the march off at the church is a symbolic way to demonstrate that Indigenous people still exist despite the horrific incidents they have gone through over the years.
“Despite their attempts to erase us we're still here, we're standing together, and you know this is just the beginning,” said Winkup.
She said all three of the organizers have relatives who attended residential schools and it wasn’t until recently that Winkup learned her own grandfather attended the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford.
“He did not share his experience with a lot of people, including his own family for a long time,” said Winkup.
“It was a very traumatic event, you know, horrible things happened to a lot of these people. Everyone handles it differently. Some people want to speak out strongly about it, some people are still dealing with it and we have to be respectful.”
Winkup said she was shocked after the recent finding of 215 children's remains, not because the graves were found but because the Indigenous community was being heard.
“I didn't grow up with my people as a direct result of these schools, not knowing my culture, or knowing my language. So I had all these feelings of I can feel the pain, I can feel the hurt, but I don't quite understand the whole picture of it,” said Winkup adding that in talking to others in the Indigenous community, she realized that she needs to have a better understanding of her history.
“So when the other number came out, it was more like, 'Okay, we have to honour them, we have to continue to educate, we have to at least start a little bit of change, we have to be acknowledged, we have to raise the voices of the people who have been speaking for so long about this and who haven't been listened to we need to get their voices heard, those of them who want to be heard.'"
The organizers are asking attendees to not bring a Canadian flag and just come to listen to the Indigenous community. Attendees are also encouraged to purchase orange-coloured shirts from Orange Shirt Day to support Indigenous organizations.
“You know, we really want this to be inclusive. We encourage people to stand with us and show solidarity. We really want to unify everyone together so this is completely open to everybody. All support is welcome,” said Winkup.
“It's been a very emotional time for the entire community.”
