Penticton was a very good place to be Friday for Canada's second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It all kicked off mid-morning with the Okanagan Nation Alliance's "Walk for the Children," a peaceful march along the northern waterfront and channel that ended up at the Syilx Indian Residential School Monument on PIB land and drew an impressive crowd numbering in the multiple hundreds.
Then just after noon hour, even as residential school survivor Jack Kruger and others like him continued to speak at the monument, a second event was just firing up at Gyro Park.
Lengthily titled the "Celebration of Indigenous Culture and Resiliency" and organized by the Four Seasons Cultural Society, it was indeed a celebration -- at least as celebratory as one could expect given the gravity of the circumstances that spurred the holiday's creation.
Action throughout the afternoon focused on the band shell, where leaders such as Chief Greg Gabriel of the PIB and John Vassilaki of the City addressed the gathering, where performers danced and sang and entertained, and where stories and messages, both painful and hopeful, were shared.
It was, at times, highly emotional.
A crowd of 300-plus watched the event unfold, many of whom got up to join the "Public Round Dance" mid-afternoon. Beyond the lawn chairs and picnic tables was an assortment of vendor and arts & craft booths, all of which seemed to do a brisk business.
However, said Chief Gabriel when PentictonNow spoke with him as the day wore on, there's still a long, long way to go.
"I'm really happy with what's happened today," he said. "I'm just amazed at the turnout, and it shows that people are starting to realize we need to keep that message alive about this unfortunate part of Canadian history."
But when asked if we're on the road to conciliation, Gabriel was emphatic.
"Absolutely not," he said. "In terms of true reconciliation, we're far from it.
"I now realize a lot of politicians use that term -- truth and reconciliation -- for their own political gain. The only way changes will happen is when they put those words into actions. I don’t want discussions. I want action."
Gabriel also wants accountability.
"What happened was criminal," he said. "There was murder. There was rape. And that has to be treated as such. Somebody needs to be held accountable. The churches, the government of Canada, the RCMP. There needs to be a full-fledged criminal investigation carried out."
We asked Gabriel what he personally hopes for in the future. And his reply was quick.
"I want people to see and understand and learn about what happened," he said. "I love it when they come out to events like today, but learn about what happened. And talk to your government officials to start coming in and sitting down with us."
The afternoon also gave organizer Four Seasons Cultural Society a chance to (almost) announce that one of the coolest events on the local calendar -- the Pow Wow Between the Lakes -- will return in 2023 after two years of pandemic hibernation.
What's more, it would now take place at the South Okanagan Events Centre rather than the Outma Sqilx'w Cultural School on the PIB reservation.
But it's not quite certain as of yet.
"We're working with the City to make it happen," said an upbeat FSCS spokesperson Haley Regan. "They'd give us permission to use the SOEC, a much bigger venue that would be so much easier on our elders and our young people.
"We wouldn’t have to worry about (wildfire) smoke and rain. It has all the facilities we need. It has kitchens, it has bathrooms, it has plenty of seating. And it’s air conditioned."
If it does indeed go forward at the SOEC, the pow wow would be moved from August to June -- June 23rd to 25th to be exact. And it would feature numerous "spotlight" dances too.
"We'd have an overdose awareness dance to honour all those people who’ve been lost or have lost people to overdoses," said Regan. "We'd also have a Two-Spirit spotlight dance and a residential school survivor special dance."
But Regan wasn't the only person feeling the pow wow love. Another was Penticton's mayor.
"This is a great thing that’s happening today," he said of the Gyro Park get-together. "And I'm so happy we may have a pow wow in Penticton at the Events Centre."
Vassilaki, who earlier in the day shared centre stage with Gabriel as the two old acquaintances discussed the importance of the day to an attentive audience, didn’t hide his pow wow passion.
"Back when I had dark hair," he laughed, "my wife and I used to spend four days at the pow wow -- when it was on the Penticton Indian Band's land on the lower level. It made us feel like we were part of them and they were part of us."
And Vassilaki wasn't done. He had a message too.
"We have to cooperate together," he said. "We have to be a united people. That’s how I look at it as a mayor. We have to support our neighbours. I love them. I've known many of them all my life."
