Hundreds mark National Truth and Reconciliation Day in White Rock<\/p>\n
Published 5:00 pm Thursday, October 1, 2026<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people turned out for the Semiahmoo First Nation\u2019s sixth annual Walk for Truth and Reconciliation on Wednesday, Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
An estimated 600 people joined in to mark Canada\u2019s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in White Rock.<\/p>\n
The event started with a walk beginning at Grand Chief Bernard Robert Charles Memorial Plaza on White Rock\u2019s East Beach, near the House Posts, and continuing on to Semiahmoo Park. <\/p>\n
Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell offered a welcome at the plaza before leading walkers along the Promenade to Semiahmoo Park.<\/p>\n
Chappell expressed frustration and anger that the same conversations with government on Indigenous rights are happening year after year \u2013 the same conversations, he said, that his First Nations\u2019 ancestors and elders had.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prayer is our children won\u2019t have to take the same positions, and have the same conversations,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But he warmly thanked all those who came out to show their support, including residents and municipal and provincial politicians, which, he said, demonstrated the strong sense of community among all those who live on the Semiahmoo Peninsula.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m full of hope \u2013 I love our home and I love our people,\u201d he added. \u201cWe won\u2019t let the hate win\u2026a little bit of love is what\u2019s needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReconciliation isn\u2019t made in Victoria, or in Ottawa. It\u2019s made here,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
SFN Councillor Jennine Cook also noted the \u201ccommunity\u201d of supporters for the Walk for Truth and Reconciliation \u2013 still growing \u201csix years in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keynote speaker for the event was Phyllis Webstad, CEO and co-founder of the Orange Shirt Society<\/p>\n
She recounted that \u2013 having spent most of her earliest years at the Dog Creek Reserve in the Southern Cariboo \u2013 at six years old, she was sent to the St. Joseph Mission Indian residential school, where a gift from her grandmother, a shiny new orange shirt, was taken away from her.<\/p>\n
That moment laid the foundation for what has become a campaign of awareness and advocacy for residential school survivors.<\/p>\n
Noting the growth of the campaign, Webstad said that \u201cever since Orange Shirt Day started it\u2019s been divine guidance \u2013 there\u2019s no other explanation for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the opening ceremony, SFN Councillor Joanne Charles noted her grandmother, mother and aunt were all residential school survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inter-generational impacts of the residential schools fell on all of us,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019re strong and resilient people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles referred obliquely, as Chappell had, to Indigenous groups concerns that the current federal push for the Pacific Link pipeline, under the Building Canada Act, undercuts prior and informed consent principles and violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard times this week after coming back from Ottawa,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She recalled that when she first returned to SFN after completing school some 30 years ago, she had asked her uncle, late Grand Chief Bernard Charles, what she could do to help \u2013 and was told that he and colleagues had been having the same discussions on Indigenous rights with government for decades before that.<\/p>\n
Some progress has been made over the years, she said \u2013 but not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seen and heard \u2013 we have a place at the table,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can all work, and create, together.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the walk, the day continued with an Indigenous marketplace, performances and a complimentary lunch hosted by SFN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds mark National Truth and Reconciliation Day in White Rock Published 5:00 pm Thursday, October 1, 2026 By…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-917308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}