When: September 30th, 2022 between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm
Where: Tsleil-Waututh Community to walk 8.5 kilometres from the former site of St. Paul’s Residential School, now the site of St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary School, to Tsleil-Waututh Nation reserve in North Vancouver.
Background: The Tsleil-Waututh Nation community will take part in a pilgrimage to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Walking from the site of the former St. Paul’s Residential School, Tsleil-Waututh Nation community members, TWN staff, and invited guests will walk 8.5 kilometers back home to the Tsleil-Waututh reserve, located along Dollarton Highway. Members taking part will be wearing orange shirts and carrying signage to acknowledge Tsleil-Waututh Nation residential school survivors and ancestors.
The purpose of the Pilgrimage is to honour all Residential and Day School survivors and loved ones who have passed while creating space for healing for our Tsleil-Waututh Nation community. By retracing the actual path that our relatives took every day to and from St. Paul’s Residential School, we will be honouring all Tsleil-Waututh children who had to walk this path to and from “school.”
The public is invited to create a wall of protection and line up on the sidewalks along Main St. / Cotton Dr. at Park and Tilford or 3rd St W. from St. Andrews Ave. to Chesterfield Ave.
Media Contact:
Lindsay Marsh, Communications Manager, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Cell: 604-404-9070; Email: communications@twnation.ca
About Tsleil-Waututh Nation:
Tsleil-Waututh Nation is one of many groups of Coast Salish peoples living in the Pacific Northwest. Oral history tells of up to 10,000 Tsleil-Waututh members living in the traditional territory, before contact with Europeans. Tsleil-Waututh ancestors’ survival depended on cycles of hunting, harvesting, and preserving foods, and on trade with neighbours. Tsleil-Waututh have a Sacred Trust, a responsibility, to care for and restore traditional territory to its former state. Today, Tsleil-Waututh is more than 600 people strong and growing. The community draws on knowledge from ancestors to remedy past wrongs, reclaim territory and traditions, and advance into a bright future.
Make a Donation:
To make a donation to Tsleil-Waututh Nation Residential and Day School Survivors, please visit: https://twnation.ca/how-to-support-twn/
