Edmonton metropolis council designated Sept. 30, Nationwide Day for Reality and Reconciliation, a civic vacation Tuesday.
Councillors voted on the concept at a metropolis council assembly the place they mentioned the place town is on assembly the 94 Calls to Motion outlined within the Nationwide Reality and Reconciliation Fee report.
The declaration particularly helps name to motion 80, town mentioned.
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“We name upon the federal authorities, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, to ascertain, as a statutory vacation, a Nationwide Day for Reality and Reconciliation to honour survivors, their households and communities, and be sure that public commemoration of the historical past and legacy of residential faculties stays an important part of the reconciliation course of,” reads the decision to motion.
A civic vacation is basically symbolic and isn’t equal to declaring it a statutory vacation. There is no such thing as a obligation for companies to shut or present stat pay to their staff.
On the Tuesday morning council assembly, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi mentioned Indigenous individuals in Edmonton face hardships because of the intergenerational results of genocide, colonization and residential faculties.
“Numerous people who find themselves houseless are Indigenous and so they typically work together with our front-facing metropolis employees, bylaw officers and transit safety officers,” he mentioned.
Indigenous individuals make up two-thirds of Edmonton’s homeless inhabitants however solely six per cent of the overall inhabitants, in accordance with the Edmonton Social Planning Council.
Sohi steered front-line employees may very well be skilled on how you can work together with Indigenous individuals in a manner that acknowledges the results of colonization on the inhabitants.
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“Issues are tough on the market and the roughness generally creates trauma for each side,” he mentioned.
The Nationwide Day for Reality and Reconciliation – also called Orange Shirt Day – was made a federal stat vacation in 2021, which means employees in federally-regulated firms, like banks, airways and the submit workplace get the day without work.
The Alberta authorities has not acknowledged the day as a stat, selecting as a substitute to go away it as much as particular person employers to determine whether or not to present their staff the day without work.
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