The Comox Valley Spirit Walk is taking place on Saturday for National Day of Truth and Reconcilliation.
It is the third Spirit Walk run by both the MIKI’SIW Métis Association and the Indigenous Women’s Sharing Society, with the first event being held during the pandemic.
Program Coordinator for the association Myrna Logan says it was held around the time when unmarked graves were being discovered near residential school sites in Canada.
“It was really important for us to have something that people can participate in to show that they were supporting the indigenous people of Canada,” said Logan.
“We began the walk in Covid, which was a challenge because we weren’t allowed to gather at that time, so we came up with a way that people could walk in small groups of six or less and still participate.”
Logan says the goal of these walks is to get people educated in some way and to be able to show support, with this year’s walk set to have large posters showing the timeline of residential schools.
Along with the posters, there will be an interactive quiz for residents to take part in.
She also says the more that people open their eyes to what happened in residential schools, the more support is given to the indigenous community.
“People are still learning about residential schools and what happened in them, and they just find that it’s unbelievable that this is happening so recently in our country and that they didn’t know,” said Logan.
She adds the event was designed so people can show their support in a simple way because a lot of times people don’t know what to do, or how to show support.
Both the society and the association encourage you to wear orange to remember the children and families affected by the residential schools.
The walk will be held this Saturday from 11 in the morning to five in the afternoon at Simms Millenium Park.
“We are trying to make it something easy and simple for people to show their support, but also have a learning aspect to it so they can learn about the history.”
