This day each year henceforth, Canada now recognizes that we need to understand that the harm inflicted upon the first peoples of this great land. And in this recognition, we will grow as a nation that encompasses both beauty and solidarity in learning what our first people have known all along about our great land, our great earth.

The colonizers, my ancestors, inflicted upon these lands an ownership of what they (and we) do not own. And in doing so, have brought us to this place where we, as the whole world we, are on a precipice of a ruin. Much we have to unlearn in that our actions are not harmony with our earth. Or ourselves.

As a child, I watched Chief Dan George OC on television. He was the chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band of the west coast of Canada and I was in awe. His message was to live lightly and leave nothing but a shadow behind. I have never forgotten this message yet it is a hard one in this society to follow where objects of desire are foremost in mind, media and community.

There is much to learn from our first people. How to care, how to share, how to be one with our world. And mostly, how to heal together and to stop harm from becoming a way of life.

This is a long road, one that started centauries ago. We, as a whole, can weave together both the will of understanding and the appreciation of differences to become a spark of change for all. A change where we live in harmony with each other and with our earth, our home.

Let us begin by accepting our part in the continuation of this harm. Let us come together to learn how to move beyond prejudice and its harmful ways to acceptance that our differences enhance growth, both for the individuals and our communities. Let us forge a way forward to heal our minds, souls and this great earth that is our only home.

Be kind and be well.

Cathy