Canadian PM says reconciliation is about redefining a relationship, can't happen overnight

He made a call to the nation that not everyone will be celebrating 'Canada 150' the same way and to show respect and understand the feelings of the so-called “reoccupiers”, media reports said.

To justify their reasons for boycotting the celebrations, indigenous people had posted on social media, hashtags like #UNsettleCanada150 and #Resistance150.

Trudeau said he clearly understood the messages sent by those behind the reoccupation, which implied that they did not see any reason for celebration.

Clashes were reported between the police in Ottawa and the Bawaating Water Protectors, an indigenous group from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, leading to the arrest of some people when they attempted to set up a teepee on the site selected for Saturday’s Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill, recently.

The arrested members were later released.

But the indigenous group decided to set up the teepee on the edge of the fenced parliamentary grounds, away from the the site, media reports said.

Security was higher than usual in Ottawa as about half a million people are expected to be on Parliament Hill this year for Canada Day celebrations.

“We just have to make sure that we deal with both what are going to be historic crowds on Canada Day on the Hill but also deal with people in a respectful and a responsible way,” Trudeau said at a news conference.

“That’s what I expect of our security services and that’s what I am expecting to see.”

Organizer Brendon Nahwegezhic said their intention was not to protest, but make Canadians aware about the historical fact of the genocide and the assimilations.

The group planned perform indigenous ceremonies, for the next four days,  including sharing circles and sacred fires, media reported.

“We are on Algonquin territory and we do have that right to practice our traditions,” Nahwegezhic said.

“When Trudeau talks about truth and reconciliation, we won’t be able to get to the reconciliation part until the truth is exposed and in the open and told properly.”

“Unfortunately, it seems to be getting misconstrued by politics and whatnot,” he said.

Relating to the history of indigenous population, Trudeau in P.E.I. said, "Impatience from many people after decades, centuries of a broken relationship," was understandable and added that the work of reconciliation was about "redefining a relationship and that can't be done overnight."

Drawing attention to disparities between the city and life on Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, Carolyn Bennett -- Canada’s Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the Member of Parliament for the riding of Toronto -- also said there would be protests on Canada Day picnic in her Toronto ridings as well as at an event in Winnipeg,

She said that for two decades Winnipeg community had not seen clean running water despite the fact that it is situated on the side of the lake where Winnipeg gets its water.

Jessica Bolduc, who had been on a long reconciliation journey, was with the Sault Ste. Marie group, and said still much work is needed to be done before anyone can say Canada has achieved reconciliation.

“I think Canada has one sort of view and way in which they engage with the world around them and then there is the Indigenous experience,” said Bolduc.

“We talk about this smart and caring nation, but don’t acknowledge that those privileges aren’t afforded to indigenous peoples in the same way that they are to folks who have settled here, whether that was 200 years ago or to people who we are welcoming here today in a ceremony of becoming Canadian,” she said.

The indigenous group “Idle No More” had called upon indigenous people in May to protest on July 1 with a “National Day of Action — Unsettling Canada 150.”

“Our history predates colonization yet we are still being treated like third class citizens even though treaties were signed in good faith on our part,” stated Senator Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, an indigenous woman from the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick. She  added she would not be celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday.

“We are of the opinion that we will celebrate when all treaties are settled, all First Nation children enjoy equality in education, health care, safe drinking water, quality housing and governance in our own land,” she said.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image: Indigenous group protests in Ottawa days before Canada's 150th Day Celebrations: twitter