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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrime Minister Mark Carney listens during an announcement about funding for oceans protection, in North Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck<\/p>\n
Wednesday was the sixth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day is a sombre remembrance of 150,000 Indigenous children who suffered malnutrition and abuse over decades in Canada\u2019s residential school system.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded the schools were central to a state-backed policy of cultural genocide.<\/p>\n
In Edmonton on Wednesday, dozens of people gathered at Fort Edmonton Park with bright orange shirts, the symbol for the children who attended residential schools, dotting the crowd. Many had bannock and sipped on warm beverages on the chilly autumn morning.<\/p>\n
Carney, who was born in the Northwest Territories and raised in Edmonton, recalled in his speech the numerous visits to Fort Edmonton in his youth.<\/p>\n
Before his speech, he entered the ceremony area flanked by Treaty 6 chiefs marching to the beat of drums and dressed in traditional attire. Alberta Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani also spoke and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also present.<\/p>\n
Carney said the ceremony urged everyone to hear the stories of those affected by the residential school system and \u201creflect on a dark chapter in Canada\u2019s past and to commit to move forward together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a distant chapter in Canada\u2019s past, but a truth that endures,\u201d said Carney, who wore an orange tie and a pin of a beaded orange T-shirt on his lapel.<\/p>\n
\u201cReconciliation is a journey, not a destination. It\u2019s an attitude, not an achievement. Our job is to move together as far and as fast down the path as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Treaty 6 Grand Chief George Arcand Jr. said healing is especially important.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t have reconciliation without truth \u2014 a truth that First Nations know so well can be difficult and we see it rejected, replaced with opinion and misinformation,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n