The town of Sackville has cancelled planned activities for Canada Day. The announcement was made over social media on Friday morning, in light of recent findings at former residential schools in western Canada.
CHMA spoke with recreation manager Matt Pryde to find out more about the decision.
“It’s been a long process to decide what exactly we want to do with Canada Day,” says Pryde. The town consulted with Fort Folly First Nation and Mount Allison’s Indigenous Affairs Coordinator Patty Musgrave earlier in June to come up with a plan to “offer some activities in a respectful way,” says Pryde. That was shortly after the remains of 215 Indigenous children were located at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops at the end of May.
Then this week, the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced a preliminary finding of 751 unmarked graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School. “We further consulted with Chief Rebecca [Knockwood, of Fort Folly] and, Patty, the Indigenous Affairs coordinator at Mt A., and we determined that now is not the time to celebrate the country,” says Pryde.
Sackville is not alone in the decision to forego festivities on July 1 this year. A long list of New Brunswick municipalities have followed the lead of Victoria, BC, and made the decision to cancel events. Sackville’s northern neighbour, Cap-Pelé, was the first Maritime community to make the call, according to the CBC’s Alexandre Silberman. As of today’s announcement, Sackville also joins Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John, Bathurst, New Maryland and Rogersville in cancelling activities on July 1.
While town council discussed the issue over email, and shared their thoughts with staff, ultimately it was an operational decision, made by staff, says Pryde.
This year’s activities were to include a fireworks display in order to acknowledge the easing of pandemic restrictions. The $3,000 expense was approved at Sackville town council’s June meeting, but Pryde says the fireworks can wait for another time. “It wasn’t a difficult decision to cancel that,” says Pryde. “It’s disappointing, because we did want to celebrate the fact that we’re kind of starting to move away from these COVID restrictions. But at no point were we celebrating Canada Day. This is a Canada Day-type decision, and it was a pretty easy one to make,” says Pryde.
There will be some activity at Sackville parks on July 1. “We had fact cards about residential schools created with some help from Chief Rebecca Knockwood,” says Pryde. And since summer students are working, they will be downtown, at the lake, in parks and at the Visitor Information Center handing out the fact sheets. “So we’re still going to be doing the educational piece during the day.”
The town will also have a book of condolences for people to sign set up outside at Bill Johnstone Memorial Park. “So if anybody would like to fill that out,” says Pryde. “That was something that the Chief Rebecca also asked for, and we’re more than happy to offer that.”
Pryde says the feedback that he has seen so far on social media has been positive. “It seems that most residents are understanding, and a lot of residents certainly wanted us to cancel,” says Pryde. “When we posted the original list of activities yesterday morning, we heard from them. And it made total sense. And that’s the decision we’ve decided to go with.”
Pryde acknowledges that there’s potential for some backlash as a result of the decision, but says the town is ultimately responsible. “And right now, honestly, it’s not the time to create a debate,” says Pryde. “We’re talking about human beings who were affected for generations. And I think right now, what we should all be doing is reflecting and thinking about the effect that the residential school system has had on Indigenous people across the country… including our friends right down the road at Fort Folly. Those kids attend our schools, and their residents work in our town. And I don’t think that now’s the time to worry about backlash.”
“Everybody at town hall, just about, and our public works and parks departments, the vast majority of us have children,” says Pryde. “So when we hear about these discoveries, that strikes home.” Pryde says that before coming to work in Sackville he spent five years working in First Nations communities in Altantic Canada, and he sees what his friends are saying on social media. “And you know, it’s a very, very difficult thing to hear.”
“I hope that residents of Sackville understand,” says Pryde. “It wasn’t a difficult decision to make, to cancel. But, you know, it’s definitely an emotional one. And I’m sure that we’ve only brushed the surface of the discoveries that are going to continue to come down the pike here.”