The trucker convoy heading to Kamloops from Merritt, Saturday, June 5, 2021.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Jason Bossert
June 05, 2021 - 8:00 PM
It was a rainy morning but spirits were not dampened as people gathered outside of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School to support the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc.
Hundreds of truckers and attendees drove from across the Interior Saturday morning, June 5, to show solidarity with the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc following the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the residential school site last month.
Cori Dee, a Westbank First Nation member from the Syilx territory, rode shotgun with her friend Mike Otto, the West Kelowna trucker who originally organized the event. Trucker convoys from Merritt, Kelowna and Williams Lake arrived in Kamloops Saturday morning to show their support. Her grandparents on her mother’s side went to residential school.
It was amazing to see the turnout, Dee said.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Cori Dee
“At one point, one of the truckers had a (residential school) survivor on the radio, and she talked about her experience, the support was amazing,” she said.
“Falkland, almost the whole town came out and lined both sides of the road.”
Arriving at the residential school site, seeing all the vehicles arriving from across the Interior, “really lifted up the spirits of the people to see there’s actually people caring about this cause and the truth and bringing out the truth,” Dee said.
A group of Sikh motorcycle riders also drove from Abbotsford to attend the drumming ceremony, she said.
“We all have to work on this together as the human race, to never let this happen again. This was a genocidal policy from the Canadian government,” she said.
In addition to this rally there have been shoe displays and an ongoing petition for a national day of mourning to honour the 215 children found buried in unmarked graves on the former Kamloops Residential School grounds.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Valerie Michel
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kyle Crofts
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