The Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action are not suggestions, said Tsilhqot'in National Government (TNG) executive director Jenny Philbrick.
"They are calls to action for people in government, people in health and education and business, It is their responsibility to read them and follow through."
Philbrick ordered copies of a National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation booklet outlining the calls to action for handing out during an event hosted by the TNG in Williams Lake honouring residential school survivors on Friday, Sept. 27 in Williams Lake.
"There was a lot of talk and movement about the calls for action a few years ago but you don't hear about it so much now."
She said commissioners interviewed many residential school survivors and heard their horrific stories on what happened to them and put the book together.
"There are things such as how government should be collaborating with Indigenous people. Just showing up for one day for an event isn't a step toward reconciliation. It's a nice gesture but just the beginning of part of moving forward."
Thanking Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad for bringing the issue of the residential school legacy to the table for Canada, Philbrick said Webstad shared her story of having her orange shirt removed on her first day at St. Joseph's Residential School near Williams Lake.
"She pushed for having truth and reconciliation day which is on Sept. 30 and is a really good start for Canada and other organizations to be acknowledging and recognizing residential schools," she said. "Along with truth and reconciliation there comes a lot of responsibility."
It is up to Canadians to educate themselves about what the residential schools did.
Carla Alphonse from Tl'entiqox First Nation, giving the opening prayer, said she wanted to pray for people on healing journeys and for survivors to get the information they need.
Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said he was honoured to represent the city.
"We have to stand together with the people who went through so much pain and suffering," he said. "We have to recognize the truth and what went wrong and then promise to reconciliation."
Emcee Bruce Baptiste said he was very appreciative of the mayor's efforts to be at these types of events.
Cariboo Chilcotin NDP candidate Michael Moses said both his parents attended the residential school in Kamloops.
"I'm an inter-generational survivor," he said. "My parents spent much of their youth at residential school and our family has spent the last 35 years relearning our family structure, culture and languages. We are learning how to be strong, hopeful and heal together."
"The systems were dedicated to bringing Indigenous people down and now we are doing the work of bringing ourselves back up. We hope today will be a day of recognition of our survivors," she said and reminded everyone there was a counsellor on site if anyone was needing to talk with someone.
In the small booklet, which can be ordered through www.nctra. ca there are the TRC's 10 principles of reconciliation, 94 calls to action and the 46 articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
