FILE PHOTO

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Tk'emlups te Secwepemc band council has chosen a date for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit after his office snubbed two written invitations to join them for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

In a statement to media, Tk'emlups calls on the prime minister to "come prepared" to discuss how the Canadian government can fund key projects that support survivors and to share attendance records from the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

"We are not interested in apologies that don’t lead to institutional and widespread change," the statement reads. "Reconciliation starts with action. Real action and change is needed that supports healing, the revitalization of our language, culture, traditions, and ways of knowing."

Prime Minister Trudeau found himself in hot water on Sept. 30, the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, because he was in Tofino while his official itinerary said he was in meetings in Ottawa.

A Global News reporter filmed Trudeau on a beach on the day that Tk'emlups te Secwepemc held a ceremony and press conference at the powwow arbour.

At an Oct. 6 press conference, Trudeau said travelling on Sept. 30 was "a mistake" and he regretted it.

"I want to thank Chief Casimir of Tk'emlups for the conversation we had over the weekend in which I apologized for not being there with her and her community for this important day," Trudeau said. He then committed to visiting Tk'emlups te Secwepemc in the coming weeks.

While the band has chosen a date for the visit from available days provided by the prime minister's officer, it has not yet been announced.

When Tk'emlups te Secwepemc first announced the findings of 215 unmarked graves of former Indian residential school students on May 27, it set off a chain of ground radar surveys at other residential schools this summer that uncovered similar findings.

Although the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015, there was a new reckoning in Canada with the abusive Indian residential school system in the summer of 2021.

Tk'emlups te Secwepemc not only invited the prime minister to join for the Sept. 30 event, but also the opportunity for a filmed speech. The lack of response was not only an "insult," but a "missed opportunity" for Trudeau, according to the band statement.

"His presence would have exhibited to the world his personal commitment to enacting real change and rectifying the historical wrongs of the residential school system and to personally support grieving Indian Residential School Survivors," the statement reads.

"The Canadian government was the entity who created the residential school institution, and it is now the Canadian government’s leadership that is needed to work with Indigenous Peoples to find a path of truth telling and reconciliation. With the acknowledgement of our truths, comes responsibility – both for the caretaker communities and the Canadian government."

A phone call between Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir and the prime minister on Oct. 2 was the first communication between them since the band made their announcement on May 27.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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